‘LACK OF WORKERS AFFECTING TRADE AT MUMBAI PORT’

MUMBAI: A ship agents’ body on Friday alleged that a lack of workers at the Mumbai port, one of the oldest harbours, is having an adverse impact on trade as vessels take longer for loading/unloading cargoes.

“The port is not in a position to allot the required number of gangs for ensuring a normal rate of operations of discharge/load the vessels. This has resulted in an increase in the turnaround time for vessels at the port,” Mumbai and Nhava Sheva Ship Agents Association said in a statement.

The body further said it has written to the port authorities highlighting the issue. Officials at the Mumbai Port Trust were not immediately available for comments.

The Mumbai port was ranked fourth among a dozen major ports in terms of traffic after Kandla, Paradip and the nearby JNPT, with its share hovering around 10 per cent among them in FY15, handling 61.66 million tonne cargo.

The ship agents body further alleged that if staffing is done as per those prescribed by statutory bodies, the prevailing shortage would not have happened at all. MUMBAI: There will soon be 35,000 more autorickshaws in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which includes, apart from the city, areas such as Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan and Dombivali.

The state government has begun the process of reviving 60,000 permits that have been lying dormant across Maharashtra, and more than half of these are for autos in MMR.

The government has also decided to reserve 5% of the permits for women. One year of driving experience is mandatory for auto drivers, but the government will relax this requirement for women.

State transport minister Diwakar Raote said on Friday that the permits will be reissued through an online lottery. “We called for applications from candidates and were amazed by the overwhelming response. Over 20,000 people applied for permits in the first 24 hours,” he said.

Significantly, the only application form for autorickshaw permits on the government’s website (www.mahaonline.gov.in) is in Marathi. “Autorickshaw permits will be given only to people who have been living in the state for the past 15 years and know Marathi. They are expected to learn the local language,” Raote said in response to a question.

Owing to a poor response to earlier attempts to revive dormant autorickshaw permits, the state government has decided to do away with the minimum education requirement. Earlier, applicants had to have passed Class 10 to be eligible for a permit.