T. S. Balasubramanian
Member (Finance)
MESSAGE
The financial year 2017-18 has ended. As we kick off a new year 2018-19, it is a good time to look back and take stock of the achievements/deficiencies and to look forward, to see what we need to accomplish.
2. As we commence the year 2018-19, I express my gratitude to all the stakeholders including the members of TAMP family for supporting the functioning of TAMP.
3.1 As a part of consultative process in regulating tariff, TAMP has organized 32 hearings during the year 2017-18 jointly with the Ports, Port users, BOT Operators and prospective lessees of port lands as well as for other tariff cases. Such joint hearings not only enabled the Ports / BoT operators to fine tune their tariff proposals but also acted as an effective platform for Users to put-forth their views / grievances.
3.2 The Board of TAMP has met 6 times in the year 2017-18. The Board decided 51 tariff cases of various Ports / BOT Operators, including estate related charges. TAMP has surpassed the self set target of 45 tariff orders for the Financial year 2017-18.
3.3 The government came out with new policy announcements in the year 2016. One of the new policies is the Stevedoring and Shore Handling Policy made effective from 31 July 2016. The government has also issued Guidelines in October 2016 to operationalize the Stevedoring and Shore Handling Policy for normative tariff at the Major Ports Trusts. The final upfront tariff for stevedoring and shore handling operation at the Major Port Trusts has been approved; paving the way for Major Port Trusts to operationalize the tariff.
4. The audit of the Accounts of the Authority for the year 2016-17 has been undertaken by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. As per the Audit Report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General there are no audit paras on the Accounts of the Authority for the year 2016-17. The Accounts of the Authority along with Audit Report for the year 2016-17 has been placed on the Table of Rajya Sabha on 05.01.2018 and Lok Sabha on 28.12.2017.
5. Nationwide Swachhta Abhiyaan – 2017 which has been named as “Swachhta Hi Sewa” campaign was observed from 15th September 2017 to 02nd October 2017 by conducting various activities related to cleanliness. During the Swachhta Hi Sewa campaign Slogans, Banners and placards were displayed in order to bring awareness and to motivate the employees on cleanliness drive etc. All the senior level officials and staff whole heartedly participated in the Swachhta Hi Sewa campaign. Beside this, all the activities pertaining to Swachhta Plan has also been uploaded on ‘Swachhta Hi Sewa Portal’. Further, as per directives issued by the Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DWS) and to continue the mission, ‘Swachhta Action Plan’ (SAP), Special Cleanliness Drive was observed every month.
6. TAMP is continuously recognized for its Quality Management System under ISO 9001:2008 and for Information Security Management System under ISO 27001:2013.
7. ALooking back on 2017-18, I emphasize not only our achievement in reaching our target but also the way we demonstrated our attitude to adapt ourselves to the changing environment. We have a target of 50 tariff cases for disposal in the year 2018-19. We have to convene more meetings of the Authority during the year 2018-19 to dispose of more tariff cases. The responsibilities of TAMP are likely to extend beyond mere tariff fixation to monitoring port performance with proliferation of private service providers and changing face of ports. The accomplishments made so far would not have been possible without the active co-operation of all the stakeholders, more importantly, our small, but dedicated team of staff members. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the employees of the TAMP for their immense contribution to achieve the accomplishments. I am confident that the tasks we need to accomplish will be accomplished with the active cooperation of our staff.
8. I welcome comments and suggestions of stakeholders on our functioning which will provide valuable feedback to us to effect necessary improvements within the statutory mandate and guiding framework given to us.
Date: 02 April 2018 (T.S. Balasubramanian)
Place: Mumbai Member (Finance)
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