A conspiracy is underway to destabilise the Chittagong Port, leaders of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), a platform of staff and workers, alleged on Monday.
They made this remark at a workers’ rally held at the gate of Chittagong Port around 11:00 am today. The rally was organised on demand of cancelling the lease of the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT).
President of Chattogram division unit of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, a body of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), AM Nazim Uddin presided over the rally.
Speaking at the event, Trade Union Centre’s (TUC) Chattogram district unit president Tapan Dutta, also a member of the Labour Reform Commission, said conspirators hidden within Chittagong Port have begun plotting to create instability.
He observed that over the last 10 days, three different decisions have been made about the port. At times it has been said that the contract with Saif Powertec would be extended by three months. Then it was said that the Port Authority would operate the NCT themselves for the next six months. Later, it was stated that the Navy would be assigned to manage the port.
Labour leader Tapan Dutta added that in the past 10 days, the government and port authorities have taken inconsistent decisions regarding NCT, which indicates that certain port officials are more focused on creating instability than managing the port properly.
The rally, moderated by SKOP joint convener Zahed Uddin, was also addressed by Chittagong Port CBA’s former general secretary and Chattogram Division unit of the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal general secretary Kazi Sheikh Nurullah Bahar, Bangladesh Labour Federation president SK Khoda Toton; Samajtantrik Sramik Front leader Mohin Uddin; and BLF organising secretary Rabiul Haque, among others.
During the meeting, the labour leaders strongly criticised the government’s decision to lease NCT to the Dubai-based multinational company DP World.
They said that Chittagong Port is the country’s main commercial gateway and the backbone of the economy.
The labour leaders pointed out that the NCT, built entirely with domestic funding, is equipped with modern technology and stands as the country’s most successful container terminal.
According to them, any attempt to hand it over to a foreign operator is against national interests and an act of extreme self-destruction.