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The Government today approved a proposal for reconstitution and strengthening of Indian Mercantile Marine Administration. This is the first major shake up in Mercantile Marine Administration of the country since 1929 when three Mercantile Marine Departments (MMDs) were set up at Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata under the Central Government and the Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai came into being in 1949. This has been necessitated due to manifold increase in the workload and international obligations in terms of ratification of 28 International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Conventions/Protocols and increase in the Gross Tonnage from 1 million GT in 1960 to 8 million GT now.
The principles underlying the reconstitution / strengthening approved by the Government are:
a) Balanced development of headquarters set-up, field set up and arms length organizations of the Directorate General of Shipping,
b) Increased delegation of powers to field and arms length organizations of the Directorate General of Shipping,
c) Consequent re-organization of field set-up
d) Strengthening of I.I.M.S., SPFO and SWFS etc. by giving them adequate administrative and financial powers.
e) Judicious assessment of technical responsibilities and consequent strengthening of technical wings of Head Quarter set-up.
f) Creation of Indian Maritime Service
g) Encouragement of New discipline in Head Quarter set-up.
h) Adoption of Norms for inspection and Surveys.
i) Outsourcing of activities wherever possible.
The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Thiru T. R. Baalu said that with this approval, the Mercantile Marine Administration would be able to create Regional Offices in Kandla and Kochi and MMD offices in Paradip, New Mangalore and Haldia. “With this expansion, 5 coastal states, namely, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala will have full-fledged Regional Offices. When all the proposed Regional Offices supported by District set ups in the first phase are in place, all the coastal states in India will have at least one MMD either at the level of Regional Office or District Office which will create more balanced and geographically well distributed Mercantile Marine Administration set-up. Further, a separate Naval Architecture Wing will be added in the Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai as is available in other maritime countries”, Thiru Baalu informed.
NSD/BS
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