PANAJI: Every day, lines of trucks leave Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) laden with tonnes of coal meant for the steel plants in hinterlands of Karnataka. But most of these trucks have quietly slipped away with coal, neither paying the cess to the state government nor making an entry in the registers of MPT.
The cess that has accumulated between 2014 and 2018 has gone up to nearly Rs 208 crore and the state government was forced to send notices to as many as 19 companies involved in the import and transportation of coal through Goa.
At the core of the problem lies a business enterprise with links to urban development minister and Mormugao MLA Milind Naik.
Three independent sources told TOI that Naik is the biggest beneficiary as he has got a contract for transporting coal to steel plants and industrial units in Karnataka.
A port official said a large chunk of the contract for coal transportation has been given to Mayuresh Transport Services. The company in turn subcontracted trucks registered in Karnataka to transport the coal to industrial units in the neighbhouring state. Some of these trucks, said the MPT official, were not registered with the state government.
The port currently has leased five of its 11 berths to the Jindal Group, Adani Group and Vedanta Group, who together handle 6-8 million tonnes of coal per year.
While JSW’s South West Port Ltd transports coal on train wagons and Vedanta moves coal through barges, the Adani Group depends on trucks to transport coal across the state to Karnataka.
A trade notice issued by MPT lends credence to the allegations levelled by local activists and the opposition about illegalities in coal transportation. MPT has issued the notice to Adani Mormugao Port Terminal Private Limited (AMPTPL), Mormugao Stevedores Association and Mormugao Ship Agents Association.
“It has been reported that different transporters and operators are carrying coal or coke and other cess payable commodities from Mormugao Port Trust to different states without registering at the office of the concerned authority,” said the trade notice.
Congress vice-president Sankalp Amonkar alleged all stevedoring contracts (loading and unloading of cargo from ships) at MPT are given to Milind Naik. “Mayuresh Transport, which transports coal for Adani, has links with Milind Naik,” alleged Amonkar.
But Naik rubbished those allegations and brazened it out.
“Those are not my trucks and that is not my company. Even if they are my trucks and if it is my business, then what is the problem. It is not illegal to have a business,” said Naik.
Naik admitted that he runs a stevedoring agency at the port, M N Constructions, but said all his business activities are legitimate.
“If they can prove the allegations, then I will quit. Simply making allegations does not work, let them prove it. Take the support of the law, investigate and prove,” said Naik.
Another official said in order to avoid paying cess to the state government, cargo could be split up in smaller consignments and transported on different dates.
“Let’s say a company imports 20,000 tonnes of coal and splits the bill of entry into two for 10,000 tonnes each. Cess will be paid on 10,000 tonnes but the same documents will be shown for the other 10,000 tonnes. It is possible,” said the official.
The transport department also wrote to MPT to ensure that trucks that are used for coal transportation are registered with the directorate of transport.
Under section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, any agent or company that transports goods needs to obtain a licence and pay a Goa Rural Improvement and Welfare Cess to the state government.
“All transporters or operators and concerned agencies are hereby directed to register and obtain a licence from the concerned authority and subject to such conditions prescribed by the state of Goa,” said deputy traffic manager S Shinde in the trade notice to AMPTPL.