Cabinet approves renaming Kolkata Port Trust after Syama Prasad Mookerjee

In a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, Union Cabinet has given the approval to rename Kolkata Port as Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port. The Prime Minister, while addressing the Kolkata Port Trust's 150th-anniversary programme in January, had promised to rechristen it after Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

The Board of Trustees of Kolkata Port Trust in its Meeting held on 25th February has also passed a Resolution to re-name Kolkata Port as 'Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata' considering Mookerjee as an academician, eminent jurist, thinker and leader, said Ministry of Shipping, in a statement.

The Kolkata Port, the first major port and only riverine port of India, came to be governed by a Trust on October 1870, on the appointment of the Commissioners for Improvement of the Port of Calcutta.

The release said, "Kolkata Port has traversed 150 years and in this journey, it has been India's gateway to trade, commerce and economic development. It has also been a witness to India's struggle for independence, World Wars I & II and socio-cultural changes taking place in the country, especially in Eastern India."

Generally, major ports in India are named after the city or the town in which they are situated, but some ports, in due consideration of contribution made by eminent leaders or in special cases or, have been re-named after great leaders of the nation. Nhava Sheva Port Trust was renamed as Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust by the Government in the year 1989. The Tuticorin Port Trust was renamed as V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust in the year 2011 and the Ennore Port Limited has been re-named as Kamarajar Port Limited in the honour of Shri K Kamarajar, eminent freedom fighter and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In 2017, Kandla Port was re-named as Deendayal Port.