A virtual war has been brewing between the Kolkata port authorities and the pilot guild with the latter making it clear that they are not ready to change and take the ships through the Eden channel.

With the Kolkata port finally giving the green light to start work on the alternative channel, that is expected to save Haldia woes, the pilot guild has decided to boycott the new channel and go on a strike unless the port re-opens the Aukland channel.

The members of the guild had even written to the Port Trust making their displeasure known regarding the new decision, after which the port authorities had promised to place the matter before the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) but so far little progress has been made.

A Majumdar, acting-chairman, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), said: “We will certainly place the views of the pilot body before the TAC, but it is little difficult to get them all to the city. Since the external members are from other states, we have to wait till they can all come down and then organise a meeting.”

Instead of working on the alternative channel, they are demanding a repair in the walls of the spur that had been created in 1976 to increase the depth of water in the Aukland channel which, they said, would help to save the Haldia dock. They said the Eden channel can only provide a short-term solution to the crisis and for a long-term solution the Aukland bar must be saved. The pilot body has further demanded the usage of the Ham dredgers in the channel instead of the regular DCI dredgers which are old and work at half capacity.

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