Port labourers made Rs 2.5 lakh a month without toiling

NEW DELHI: Labourers deployed at the governmentowned New Mangalore Port were living the dream life, taking home around Rs 2.5 lakh a month, and that too without doing any physical work. And then the bubble burst.

This came to light when New Mangalore Port Trust chairman M T Krishna Babu held a meeting with all stakeholders after taking charge.

Traders told him they were shifting to other ports in the region because of the exorbitant payment to labourers deployed with the four harbour mobile cranes (HMC).

Babu said 10 labourers were deployed in each shift for each crane. This is known as “notional booking”, which means booking of labour takes place even though there is no work. The official monthly salary of these labourers is around Rs 60,000-Rs 80,000, sources said.

As per the practice followed till last month, stevedores employed at the dock to load and unload ships paid the labourers Rs 3 for each tonne of bulk cargo loaded or unloaded as incentive. Interestingly, while Rs 1.30 was paid through cheque, the remaining came in cash. “This was nothing but speed money. I held a meeting with the labour union and different groups to convince them that we need to stop this practice for the betterment of the port. We gave 15 days’ time to the labourers to fall in line and from August 1, we stopped this practice,” Babu told TOI.

There were also reports of “highly paid labourers” giving incentives to crane operators so that they handle more cargo. Officials said the practice may have continued as a “trade off” between the port trust and the labour union to allow port mechanisation.

After this practice at New Mangalore Port came to light, the shipping ministry has asked the 11 other major ports to check whether such practices were in force in their ports.