Port operations in Haldia, West Bengal’s largest port, were hit on Saturday morning after a dock employee was found to have tested positive for Covid-19. The stevedore had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat convention in Nizamuddin on March 30 and reported back to work at the port. He was tested positive for Covid-19 Saturday morning, triggering panic at the port.
Several port officials who came in contact with him over the week have been home quarantined. “Cargo operations have been suspended. The general cargo berth is now under CISF control and no one is allowed to go in,” a private shipping official said.
The employee, who has tested positive for Covid-19, was a berth supervisor in the port and visited it each day for delivering papers and working plans of vessels. An unspecified number of port officials, mainly those working in the general cargo berths, have been home quarantined.
This is believed to be the first case of coronavirus infection in an Indian port. Ports have been declared part of essential services and were functioning with all operational staff reporting for work each day.
Haldia Port complex, operated by the Kolkata Port Trust, has 12 berths and handles 40 million tonnes of cargo annually. Besides West Bengal, it serves the hinterland comprising Bihar, Jharkhand, Nepal, Bhutan and all the states of North-Eastern India.
