Posted on January 1, 2019
The Roll-on-Roll-off (Ro-Ro) service between Dahej near Surat and Ghogha near Bhavnagar was a dream project of PM Narendra Modi. He had conceptualised it when was the chief minister of the state. After a mammoth exercise, the dream turned into reality, but the same could turn into a nightmare, if the state government does not put enough effort to upkeep the services.
The company that operates service has many complaints against Gujarat government’s Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), over irregularities, negligence and inadequacy. Sources from Indigo Seaways Private Limited, which is the service provider, have informed that the GMB seems to be doing this deliberately.
Sources from the company informed on condition of anonymity that, “GMB does not have the required manpower there. They do not have any expertise in dredging section. A mechanical engineer has taken additional charge of dredging, so he has become power center there. The person is there because a lot of money is involved and massive manipulations are possible.”
“The GMB charges Rs 250 per cubic metre mud to be removed through dredging so that the vessel can ply easily in water and it is required to remove 3 lakh cubic metre mud daily. GMB staff remove the mud, only to dump it back at the same place, and not deep into the sea,” the sources added.
The sources further said that GMB officials insisted they operate ferries even during high tide so that they wouldn’t be required to dredge frequently. But the company fears this attitude would affect ferry timings otherwise as the silt would remain and obstruct the path when there is no high tide. This in turn can make people lose faith in RoRo services, leading to a close down ultimately.
Indigo Seaways chairman and managing director, Chetan Contractor, said, “We have made many representations before the GMB on dredging issue, but to no avail. We have signed concession agreements with the GMB and they are bound to provide us the service.”
The vice chairman and chief executive officer of GMB, Mukesh Kumar, said, “No representation on irregularities was made to GMB by the operators.”
He also informed that the service ran smoothly without any inconvenience to passengers. He informed that above 750 passengers, 100 cars, 13 two-wheelers, 11 trucks, and six buses were ferried during the daytime on Tuesday alone. He also informed that the first consignment of Honda Motorcycles also was on board from Dahej to Ghogha for Bhavnagar on Tuesday.
Source: DNA
