Amravati: In what could be a big relief for fishermen, four fishing harbours are getting ready in different districts. Works of the harbours in Juvvaladinne (Nellore) and Nizampatnam (Bapatla) are nearing completion and are ready for the launch. Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is expected to launch the harbours next month. The state government had directed the Maritime Development Board to keep the works of other two harbours on the fast track and bring them into operation by the next fishing season. The AP maritime board has claimed that about 50 per cent of the works of the harbours in Machilipatnam (Krishna) and Uppada (Kakinada) are already completed and will be ready by June.
Interestingly, the state government is kick-starting the works on another five fishing harbours next month to bring nine new harbours available to the local fishermen. The new harbours are expected to prevent the migration of fishermen to other coastal states including Gujarat. “It is the promise of our chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to bring as many fishing harbours available to the local fishermen to help them prevent migration. Thousands of traditional fishermen were moving to far away states for livelihood due to the absence of the harbours,” said fisheries minister Dr Sidiri Appala Raju.
He said that they have taken up the construction of nine harbours to provide livelihood to about 1 lakh fishermen families in eight coastal districts of the state. The fishing harbours are coming up with multi-utility facilities including the drying chambers, auction halls and cold storage facility. Each harbor is being constructed with about ₹300 crore. While the Centre is granting nearly 50 per cent of the cost, the state government is taking the remaining burden.
AP maritime board has set the stage ready for inviting tenders for the construction of five harbours with a cost of nearly ₹2,000 crore. The new harbours will accommodate nearly 10-12 thousand mechanized boats. Each harbor will handle 40,000-50,000 metric tonnes of stock annually. “We have planned integrated complexes in all the harbours to create more facilities to the fishermen. The new infrastructure will improve their revenues as they could store the stock in cold storage when failed to get desired price,” said MP Mopidevi Venkata Ramana.
