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Santanu Sanyal

KOLKATA, Feb. 18

THE bid to export foodgrains for the first time through the Kolkata Dock System (KDS), one of the two dock systems of the Kolkata Port Trust (KPT), is not making much progress as railway rakes in sufficient numbers are not available for grain transportation from Punjab.

A requisition for 17 rakes, of which at least four to five rakes in December 2002, was placed with the Railways a few months ago by LMJ International, a private exporter keen to send wheat by ship to Bangladesh through KDS. However, nothing has happened as yet.

Subject to availability of railway rakes, as KDS sources indicate, it should be possible to handle at least 25,000 tonnes (equivalent of roughly 10 rakes) of foodgrain exports — partly by ship and partly by barges — every month. Two firms, namely, R Pyarelal & Company and ERT Shipping & Warehousing, want to export by barges. But where is the rake, they ask?

KPT, it might be noted, has initiated several measures to promote grain exports through KDS. First, it has already kept ready three berths, Nos. 27,28 and 29, complete with railway connections and warehousing facilities, in Kidderpore Dock II (KPD II) for handling the grain exports both by ship and barges. KPD II was earlier declared closed for want of traffic.

More important, the rates have been rationalised. Thus, for exports by ship, the Calcutta Dock Labour Board levy has been slashed by 40 per cent together with yet another 40 per cent reduction in port charges to Rs 78 from the earlier Rs 130 per tonne.

For exports by barges, the port charges have been reduced by about Rs 45 per tonne to bring it down to the level of Rs 120 from the earlier Rs 165 per tonne. There is no dock labour board levy for barges as, unlike ships, there is no on board operation by stevedores in respect of these vessels. But then the Railways too is believed to be helpless in the matter of allocating additional rakes particularly during this time of the year. Right now, the rake allotment to Food Corporation of India to facilitate grain movement for the public distribution system gets top most priority. The demand for rakes for other purposes including exports therefore has to wait.

True, the grain exports through the ports like Visakhapatnam, Tuticorin and Kandla have not been hit for want of wagons. This is presumably because these ports have been handling grain traffic for quite some time and therefore have to rake allocations firmed up for them by the Railways long ago. Since KDS proposes to handle the traffic for the first time, it will be sometime before everything is in place.

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