State keen on fertilizer shipment through PPT

OST Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 28:

Considering requisite facilities at the Paradip Port Trust (PPT), the Odisha government has evinced keenness on procuring fertilisers through the Port to avoid inordinate delay in the shipment of the entire stock imported through the Visakhapatnam and Kakinada ports and bring down heavy loss incurred by the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers towards freight subsidy.

The handling charge of the Paradip Port is Rs 800 per tonne in case of rail transport and Rs 650 per tonne by road, which is almost the same for all ports.

However, if the fertilisers are despatched from Paradip vis-à-vis the ports of southern India to the upcountry destinations, the distance will come down by 471 km which will enable the ministry to save Rs 600 per tonne as freight subsidy.

The ministry, which has allocated 10.03 lakh tonnes of fertilisers to the state during the Kharif season, has decided to increase the allocation in the coming years.

Keeping this in view, permission to the Odisha ports to handle shipments of fertilisers would go a long way in facilitating better supply of fertilizers in the state, a senior official of the agriculture department said.

In this connection, PPT chairman Sudhanshu Sekhara Mishra has written to the Union secretary of the ministry detailing out the capability and facilities of the port in handling fertilisers.