State loses out Maritime University to Chennai

Chetan Chauhan & Mou Chakraborty
New Delhi, March 13, 2007

LAWMAKERS OF the CPI(M) and the DMK — two allies of the UPA government —came to blows in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over the introduction of a Bill to set up India’s first maritime university in Chennai, instead of upgrading the existing Marine Engineering and Research Institute in Kolkata.
The Left Front wants such an upgrade as the institute at Taratala has trained students for decades, having been set up in 1949. The DMK, on the other hand, says Chennai is more suitable being closer to sea and 300 acres of land has already been allocated.
As the two groups fought, ministers tried to separate them — a job finally left to the marshals. The uproar caused five adjournments. Later, the ugly chapter was brought to a close with the CPI(M)’s leader in the House, Basudeb Acharya, tendering an apology. The CPI(M) also suggested opening of three national institutes of maritime excellence — one each in Chennai, Kolkata and in western India.
But the harm has been done. Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani had made the most of it. “I hope that with this civil war, the UPA government would finally come to an end. The government should do something more to prevent such a situation,” he said.
Bengal higher education minister Sudarsan Roy Chowdhury protested the decision to set up the university in Chennai. “The Kolkata institute is the country’s oldest and has the infrastructure to be upgraded. Why should it be bypassed?”
Institute director S. Mukhopadhyay said it was under the jurisdiction of the Union shipping ministry. “I do not have the authority to say where the proposed university should be set up,” he said.
Roy Chowdhury, however, had written a letter to the ministry last month asking for an upgrade, and plans to do so again asking it to reconsider its decision. He felt the Centre’s decision had been taken under pressure.
“Some MPs from Tamil Nadu wanted to reap political benefits from the decision. But such things cannot be done by depriving an institute that deserves an upgrade,” he said.
It was a CPI(M), Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who asked road transport minister T.R. Baalu of the the DMK to introduce the Bill. CPI(M) members led by Anil Basu protested, saying it was a breach of trust as they had registered their opposition with the Prime Minister. With members rushing into the well, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes.
When the House resumed and Baalu stood up to speak, Basu and CPI(M) member Shaumik Lahiri barged towards him and tried to snatch the papers from the minister. But they were blocked by minister of state for finance S.S. Palanimanickam.
Other CPI(M) members rushed towards the well but were confronted by DMK members which resulted in jostling with both groups shouting at each other.
The House was adjourned three more times. Finally, it resumed at 2.45 pm when CPI(M) members agreed to the government’s proposal to refer the Bill to the standing committee.
Denouncing the episode, the Speaker asked the members to forget this ‘ugly chapter’ in the history of the House.
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