Some major ports of India lost over Rs.53.5 crore: CAG

The Dollar Business Bureau

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that some of the 12 major ports of India, including Kolkata and Mumbai, have lost more than Rs.53.5 crore due to under-recovery or revenue losses.

Mumbai Port incurred a loss of Rs.23.10 crore due to failure of revising parking charges, while Kolkata Port witnessed under-recovery of around Rs.13.36 crore, the Government auditor has said in its recent report, which was submitted in the Parliament.

“Failure of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) to revise parking charges resulted in loss of revenue of Rs.23.10 crore over the past six years on night parking charges alone,” CAG said.

The parking charges are fixed under the General Bye-Laws of MbPT and have not been reviewed from a long time, when these were fixed at Rs.20/vehicle per night.

The Auditor observed that the parking charges collected by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) are higher in similar localities and it also periodically revises the charges.

“Therefore, taking the MCGM parking rates as basis, MbPT suffered a revenue loss of Rs.23.10 crore between 2010-11 and 2015-16 towards night parking charges at Cotton Depot alone,” it said in the report.

The decision of Kolkata Port’s management for granting credit on the cargo shipped by a private entity under the strategic plan compared to another pact related to land leasing resulted in under-recovery to the tune of Rs.13.36 crore on account of assured onboard-cum-wharfage charges, it said.

Similarly, Visakhapatnam Port Trust incurred a loss of Rs.4.64 crore due to failure to recover from the Indian Railways due to a laxity of provision in the agreement, CAG said.

The Port also irregularly paid/overpaid Rs.1.47 crore on account of college courses’ tuition fee against the wage settlement provisions, it added.

The Auditor pointed out that due to incorporating contradictory clauses in a deed for allotment of land on lease, Cochin Port Trust incurred a revenue loss of Rs.1.98 crore.

The Government auditor also said that lapses on the part of Director General (DG) of Shipping, Mumbai, in implementing e-governance project have led to non-achievement of intended gains, after spending Rs 5.10 crore and blocking of funds to the tune of Rs.3.85 crore for 9 years.

The DG Shipping had commenced e-Samudra project for integrating information through various departments in order to offer a single point of contact for services delivery through electronic medium.