The oldest port in India, the Kolkata port, officially known as
the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), is struggling to survive. KoPT,
which handles Kolkata Dock System (KDS) and Haldia Dock System
(HDS), has been forced to sell or lease around 100 acres of its
large 3,000-acre land bank in the city to meet pension
liabilities. Kolkata's port is steeped in history. Its roots go
back to the Mughals. The British called it the gateway to the
East and the port played a strategic role during the second
world war, surviving two attacks on it by the Japanese. That
history, unfortunately, hasn't been able to stave off a plague
of problems that have steadily piled on, questioning the port's
survival. One of those is the question of how to look after its
ageing ex-workforce. According to a top port official, KoPT
needs an estimated Rs 130 crore annually to pay pension dues.
More, implementation of the new pay scale has become an
additional pressure to KoPT, which has about 9,000-odd staff.
“We have about 30,000 pensioners with