JS body formed to probe ship collision at Ctg port

The parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry on Wednesday decided to investigate the collision that took place between a Panama flag carrier ship and a Bangla-deshi dredging ship at the outer anchorage of Chittagong port.


The committee at a meeting found inconsistency in the probe report submitted by an inquiry committee formed by the ministry on the collision be-tween Panama ship MV Utopia and Bangladeshi dredging vessel Khanak on October 21, 2009, the committee sources said.
They said that the meeting formed a three-member sub-committee headed by Obaidur Moktadir Chowdhury and asked the committee to submit its report within one month.
The other members of the committee are Golam Kibria Tipu and Nasrul Hamid.
'We found inconsistencies in probe report submitted by the inquiry committee formed by the shipping ministry and decided for further investigation into the accident,' committee member Golam Kibria Tipu told New Age.
The Bangladeshi dredging ship Khanak was seriously damaged when the Panama flag carrier vessel MV Utopia hit Khanak at the outer anchorage on October 21, 2009.
Following the accident, the Shipping ministry formed a three-member inquiry committee with joint secretary of the ministry Mohammad Alauddin as convener.
Khorshed Alam of the Chittagong Port Authority was made member secretary of the committee while chief engineer of Mercantile and Marine Depa-rtment Khairul Islam was made a member of the committee.
Wednesday's meeting of the parliamentary committee also discussed on the boards of directors of the maritime ports of Chittagong and Mongla. The shipping minister informed that moves had already taken to re-structure the boards of directors of the two ports.
'The top officials of four ministries would be included in the board and the total number of the directors will be nine,' the committee chairman Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury Liton said after the meeting.
He said that the secretaries of the Shipping, Commerce, Home and Labour ministries would be included in the boards of directors.
He also said that the boards of advisors of the ports would also be made active to bring pace in the port activities.
Source : New Age