Prime Minister names Kolkata Port Trust after Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee

News:Prime minister has renamed the Kolkata Port Trust after Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee on the port trust 150th anniversary.

Facts:

About Kolkata Port Trust:

• Kolkata Port Trust is an autonomous body under the ministry of shipping, Government of India administered through Major Port Trusts Act, 1963.
• The trust manages two separate dock agglomerations – the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) and Haldia Dock Complex (HDC).

About Kolkata Port:

• The Kolkata port is the only riverine port in the country situated 203 km from the sea. 
• The river Hooghly on which it is located has many sharp bends and is considered a difficult navigational channel.
• The Port was first used in the early 16th century by the Portuguese to anchor their ships since they found the upper reaches of the Hooghly river beyond Kolkata unsafe for navigation.
• It was also used after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833 to ship lakhs of Indians as ‘indentured labourers’ to far-flung territories throughout the Empire.
• Currently,the port is considered as the guiding factor to trade and commerce of vast hinterland comprising the entire Eastern India and the two land-locked Himalayan Kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan.

Additional information:

Major Ports:

• India has 13 major sea ports and about 200 non-major sea ports and intermediate ports.