Gujarat govt helping Adani Ports 'secure monopoly', JPC essential: Congress
The Congress on Wednesday reiterated its demand for a joint parliamentary committee into the Adani issue and alleged that the Gujarat government was helping Adani Ports to "secure a monopoly" on the state's port sector. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the Gujarat government grants private ports a 30-year concession period on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis, after which ownership gets transferred to the government of Gujarat. On the basis of this model, Adani Ports currently has control over Mundra, Hazira, and Dahej ports, he said. Before the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, Adani Ports requested the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) to extend this concession period by another 45 years to 75 years in total, Ramesh claimed. "This was much beyond the maximum permissible period of 50 years, but the GMB hastened to request the Gujarat Government to do so anyways. The GMB was in such a hurry that it did so without approval from its Board, resulting14-08-2024