Twelve major ports, including Mumbai and Kolkata, have lost over ₹ 53.5 crore on account of under-recovery or revenue loss

Some of the 12 major ports, including Mumbai and Kolkata, have lost over ₹ 53.5 crore on account of under-recovery or revenue loss, government auditor CAG has said.

While Mumbai Port failed to revise parking charges incurring a loss of ₹ 23.10 crore, Kolkata Port saw under recovery to the tune of ₹ 13.36 crore, Comptroller and Auditor General of India or CAG has said in its latest report, tabled in Parliament.

“Failure of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) to revise parking charges resulted in loss of revenue of ₹ 23.10 crore over the past six years on night parking charges alone,” it said.

These charges, fixed under the MbPT General Bye-Laws, have not been revised for long, when it was fixed at ₹ 20 per vehicle per night.

“Audit observed that Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) collects higher parking charges in similar localities and also revises the rates periodically.

“Therefore, taking the MCGM parking rates as basis, MbPT suffered a revenue loss of ₹ 23.10 crore between 2010-11 and 2015-16 towards night parking charges at Cotton Depot alone,” the report said.

About Kolkata Port, it said decision of the management to grant credit for the cargo imported by a private party under strategic plan against another agreement relating to lease of land resulted in under-recovery of guaranteed on-board cum wharfage charges to the tune of ₹ 13.36 crore.

Likewise, CAG said the Visakhapatnam Port Trust failed to recover ₹ 4.64 crore from Indian Railways due to absence of provision in agreement.

The same port also “overpaid/irregularly paid ₹ 1.47 crore towards tuition fees for college courses contrary to provisions of wage settlement”, the report said.

The Port’s Employees (Educational Assistance) Regulations, 1990, stipulate that an employee is eligible to draw children education allowance when he is compelled to send his child to a school away from the station at which he is posted and/or resides owing to the absence of a school of the requisite standard at that station.

The Regulations further prescribe that an employee will be eligible for reimbursement of tuition fee provided that no children’s educational allowance is admissible.

The CAG report said the payments were made contrary to the regulations.

It also pointed out that Cochin Port Trust incurred loss of revenue of ₹ 1.98 crore due to incorporation of contradictory clauses in a lease deed for allotment of land.

The CAG also said that lapses in implementation of e-governance project by Director General of Shipping, Mumbai, have resulted in non achievement of intended benefits, after incurring an expenditure of ₹ 5.10 crore and blockage of funds amounting to ₹ 3.85 crore for nine years.

The DG Shipping had undertaken ‘e-Samudra’ project to integrate the information systems across various departments to provide a single point of contact for electronic delivery of services.