It is most unfortunate and least desirable though inevitable at times that a management has to fall upon the Pension Fund to pay the salaries to its employees. Cochin Port Trust finds itself in such a helpless predicament. It has to use the Pension Fund now to pay salaries to its employees, about 3000 in number. The main reason is the failure of the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) to achieve the business level it was expected of at the beginning. Expectations went wrong, at least for the time being, pushing the Trust into a financial crunch. Much expected cabotage relaxation did not pay off because of the stand of the Defence Ministry which prefers that all transshipment through ICTT must be strictly subject to scanning for security reasons which cannot be neglected. The Port Trust is confident of convincing the Defence Ministry that such scanning could be avoided without, at the same time, sacrificing security. But, it may not help to solve the present crisis which is urgent. The labour trustees of the Port Trust who cannot afford to lose interest in the welfare of the labour force want the dredging operations to be suspended so that the money spent on dredging could be utilized to meet the indispensable salary expenses. But all the same, dredging cannot be totally put aside since the container throughput, particularly involving large vessels, depends on the depth of 14.5 meters which can be achieved only through dredging. At the present juncture of the financial crisis, it looks like a vicious circle; the Trust can neither spend on dredging nor can they do away with it for long. As if adding fuel to the fire, the denial of the State Bank of India to sanction a working capital loan coupled with the Union Cabinet’s refusal to honour the request from the port for about INR 400 crore to meet the dredging expenses has pushed the Trust into a tight corner. As such, the port spends nearly INR 20 crore every month towards salaries, wages and pension.
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Cochin Port Trust exploits PF to pay salaries
It is most unfortunate and least desirable though inevitable at times that a management has to fall upon the Pension Fund to pay the salaries to its employees. Cochin Port Trust finds itself in such a helpless predicament. It has to use the Pension Fund now to pay salaries to its employees, about 3000 in number. The main reason is the failure of the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) to achieve the business level it was expected of at the beginning. Expectations went wrong, at least for the time being, pushing the Trust into a financial crunch. Much expected cabotage relaxation did not pay off because of the stand of the Defence Ministry which prefers that all transshipment through ICTT must be strictly subject to scanning for security reasons which cannot be neglected. The Port Trust is confident of convincing the Defence Ministry that such scanning could be avoided without, at the same time, sacrificing security. But, it may not help to solve the present crisis which is urgent. The labour trustees of the Port Trust who cannot afford to lose interest in the welfare of the labour force want the dredging operations to be suspended so that the money spent on dredging could be utilized to meet the indispensable salary expenses. But all the same, dredging cannot be totally put aside since the container throughput, particularly involving large vessels, depends on the depth of 14.5 meters which can be achieved only through dredging. At the present juncture of the financial crisis, it looks like a vicious circle; the Trust can neither spend on dredging nor can they do away with it for long. As if adding fuel to the fire, the denial of the State Bank of India to sanction a working capital loan coupled with the Union Cabinet’s refusal to honour the request from the port for about INR 400 crore to meet the dredging expenses has pushed the Trust into a tight corner. As such, the port spends nearly INR 20 crore every month towards salaries, wages and pension.
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