To all appearances, the old syndrome of making the Chittagong Port dysfunctional by dockworkers' agitation has resurfaced. This time the bone of contention is cargo handling at the jetties of General Cargo Berths (GCBs) by private operators appointed by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA). The dockworkers have meanwhile frustrated the attempt to start the berth operation by the appointed private companies scheduled the last Friday.
The dock workers under the banner of Dock Bandar Sramik Karmachari Federation on the other hand, are demanding that the CPA, as agreed earlier with the Federation, should immediately recruit, what they said, 'scrutinised' workers, issue identity cards for the workers and introduce labour department under the Traffic Department of CPA.
Unfortunately, the dock workers seem to have fallen out with their leaders seeing that they chased and manhandled Federation leaders as well as the CPA officials as the latter had gone to the port for resumption of berth operation. As a consequence, the crisis at the port has deepened rendering early resolution of the impasse rather uncertain.
One may recall here that in the past when the Chittagong port was at the mercy of the dockworkers' syndicates with political backing, its efficiency level had gone down alarmingly. The turn around time at that time was about 10 days. That made the Chittagong port the costliest in the region. But the turnaround time had been drastically reduced after some reform measures were taken by the last caretaker government. Now again, the turn around time has been increasing and may return to the earlier double-digit figure unless something is urgently done to stop the trend.
What the taxpaying citizens expect is a fully functional Chittagong port. And their expectations are natural given the huge prospect of its developing into a regional commercial hub with deep sea port facilities. When such a prospect is dawning on the horizon, petty squabbles should not be on the way out.
The upsetting turn of events at the Chittagong port is a matter of serious concern. Unless promptly addressed by the government, there is every possibility that the situation may go out of hand,
To that end, it must also give due considerations to the legitimate demands of the dockworkers in the greater interest of a faster delivery of service at the Chittagong port. However, under no circumstances, the development of the port should be allowed to be held hostage to the erratic trade unionism.