The movement of ships at the Haldia port has come to a halt since Sunday evening after “marine hands”, who fasten and unfasten vessels’ chains, stopped work to protest alleged staff shortage.

Most of the 60-odd agitators are members of a Trinamul-backed union. The port authorities have declared the protest, which has affected nearly 50 ships, illegal.

Debashis Chakraborty, one of the striking staffers who is also the secretary of the Trinamul-backed Calcutta Port Trust Permanent Employees’ Union, said the union had not given the call for the “cease-work” but backed the cause.

Leaders of the RSS-aligned Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh pointed out that the agitators were Trinamul supporters and alleged that they wanted to “sabotage work at a central organisation before the Lok Sabha polls”. The port is under the Union shipping ministry.

“The ceasework is illegal. We have suffered losses of Rs 10 crore. Eleven ships could not arrive and eight could not leave,” said general manager (marine) of the port, Swapan Saha Roy. Trade sources said 28 ships were waiting to enter Haldia, adding that most of them were carrying coal for steel plants.

Asked whether any union was behind the protest, general manager Saha Roy said: “We don’t know about it as no one from any union has contacted us.”

Chakraborty, the Trinamul union leader, said no marine hands had been recruited in the past 10 years. “Even those who retired were not replaced. We are working with half the workforce. We are overworked and have informed the port management on a number of occasions but nothing has been done. So we were compelled to resort to protests. However, our union has not given any ceasework call,” Chakraborty added.

A ship at the Haldia port Telegraph picture

The working president of the Trinamul union in the district, Shibnath Sarkar, said he did not support the cease-work. “We don’t support any forcible disruption. We want the employees to sort out their grievances through discussions.”

The port authorities said they had tried to contact union leaders to find a solution through discussions. “But we did not receive any response from them,” said one official.

The BMS sniffed foul play. “Trinamul is behind the disruption. They want to sabotage work at a central government organisation before the Lok Sabha polls. As the chief minister of Bengal says she is against all kinds of disruption in work, Trinamul is not taking direct responsibility,” said Pradip Bijali, general secretary of BMS affiliated Haldia-Calcutta Port and Dock Shramik Union. Local leaders of CITU, the CPM labour arm, echoed the view.

Sources said the Haldia port authorities had decided to serve notices on the marine hands when they expressed their inability to work on Sunday afternoon. Although there should be 20 hands in each shift, some were reported missing from work after having marked their attendance.

Additional reporting by Sambit Saha in Calcutta