By IANS,
Haldia (West Bengal) : A private port equipment operator in the labour unrest-hit Haldia dock complex Sunday alleged that three of its senior officers, as also one’s wife and son, were abducted by a mob at gun point and asked never to return to the port town.
“Three of our senior officers, Capt. Manpreet Jolly, Mr. Jagadish Behara and Mr. Bushan Patil (including his wife and a year-old-daughter) were abducted this (Sunday) morning at about 0100 hrs by a mob of about 50 unidentified persons, threatened with dire consequences and grievous bodily harm and were later forced to flee Haldia at gun point,” Haldia Bulk Terminal Pvt. Ltd. (HBT) CEO Gurpreet Malhi said in a media statement.
“They were threatened and advised that should they ever set foot in Haldia again, they will face dire consequences,” he added.
Expressing shock at the complete breakdown of law and order in Haldia, Malhi said the situation was “even more shocking” as when the criminals were trying to make a forced entry into their apartment, the victims made “numerous calls to the police” begging for protection but the police never came.
“The required help never came despite two hours having elapsed between the first call and the moment the abducted people were driven away from the apartment,” the statement read.
Noting that the Calcutta High Court had asked the state government to provide a safe environment to HBT to operate, Malhi said his company has even paid up Rs.1,745,730 for the deployment of police personnel towards restoration of a peaceful work environment so that it can resume its operations.
“But this morning’s incident illustrates that Haldia police and state administration are not ready to guarantee safety to HBT as a company.”
However, he said the abducted employees were now in a safe location in Kolkata.
Expressing disgust, Malhi accused some vested interests of thwarting HBT’s efforts to resume operations at HDC.
HBT, a joint venture between Mumbai-based ABG and French firm LDA, operates berths two and eight at Haldia.
Blaming the deteriorating law and order situation at the dock, HBT has suspended operations at the two berths for over a month now.
The alleged abductions took place hours before the company was to resume operations following the Calcutta High Court’s interim order earlier this month.
“HBT has no doubt that the date for this abduction has been carefully thought about as it took place barely hours before HBT was to resume its operations at HDC,” Malhi added.