Mumbai:
PNP Catamaran Services, owned by Alibaug-based legislator Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), has not paid dues worth Rs 28.09 crore to the state maritime board, information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed. The firm offers air-conditioned services between Mumbai, Mandwa and Alibaug.
Information procured by former Alibaug MLA Madhukar Thakur states, PNP owes Rs 25.24 crore to the state maritime board in loading and unloading charges. The firm did not pay any dues to the board between October 1999 and August 2005. It owes Rs 2.84 crore in service tax, which it has not paid from August 20, 2005, to September 30, 2010. A copy of the documents is with DNA.
In 2005, the board had constituted an arbitrator to sort out the company's payment issues. Though the arbitrator has had a series of meetings with board representatives and the company, the issue has not been sorted.
Thakur has written to the chief minister and the Union ministry of environment and forests, claiming that the company has twisted several Coastal Regulation Zone norms while constructing jetties in Alibaug, Mandwa, Dharamtar etc.
Several attempts to contact Patil and board officials were unsuccessful. But sources in the board confirmed that the government has taken the matter seriously. "The government has received many complaints about the services. We expect some action to be initiated soon," said a senior official of the board.
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