Rupee fall affects port development, says G K Vasan

The sliding rupee will stro­ngly impact port development works and the Indian shipping industry as it will, any other industry in the country, said Union shipping minister G.K. Vasan, who added that the present economic crisis in India has affected employment opportunities of even cad­ets trained at the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)-run Maritime Training Institute (MTI).

Speaking to the media after inaugurating south India’s first branch of the Maritime Training Inst­itute of the SCI, Mumbai, in Thoothukudi on Satu­rday, he said the free fall of the rupee has escalated the cost of port development activities in all 12 major ports.

However, he was not clear about the exact percentage of project cost overrun. He hoped that the Indian economy would recuperate within the next one-and-a-half years, and the first batch of 40 students who have taken admission for the one-year diploma cou­rse at the Thoothukudi branch of MTI need not fear for their employment opportunities, added Vasan.

Earlier, heeding to the request of members of Parl­ia­ment S.S. Ram­asubbu (Tirunelveli) and S.R. Jeyadurai (Thooth­uk­udi), Vasan assured on stage that fishermen candidates who have got through the entrance exam with minimum eligible marks will be given preference in admission at the MTI from the next academic year.

He said the V.O. Chida­mbaranar port trust was a partner of SCI in the institute, having given Rs 3 crore for the creation of its infrastructure out of a total estimation of Rs 15 crore.

Vasan laid the foundation stone for the new building for MTI on the port premises in the presence of Dr Vishwapati Trivedi, secretary, Union ministry of shipping, B.K. Mandal, CMD of the SCI, and S. Natarajan, chairman of V.O. Chid­am­baranar port trust. Classes for the first batch of MTI students commenced on Saturday at the port trust building.