The Harbour Engineering Department’s plan to set up a boat maintenance yard at Puthiyappa harbour has been hailed by hundreds of mechanised fishing boat owners in the district who have been seeking the service of a private yard in Kochi. The Rs. 19-crore proposal recently submitted by the harbour engineering wing has also won the approval of the Fisheries Department for the speedy implementation during this fiscal itself. Officials say Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma too has assured her support at all levels to speed up the proceedings. Though a boat repairing yard had been functional at Beypore to attend emergency repairs, the lack of proper maintenance and timely upgrade put an end to the show several years ago. The spot was later taken over by the Coast Guard for the development of their facilities. Later on, only a few private agencies were there at the spot handling the job for the local boat owners. At present, majority of the small boat owners in the district are in a situation to depend on the limited service of three private boat maintenance yards at Beypore. For all major repairs, we usually seek the assistance of a Kochi-based unit, says C. Musthafa, a Beypore-based boat owner and member of the Kerala State Fishing Boat Operators Association. He points out that a boat maintenance yard at the government sector has been a long pending request for getting affordable service support. In Kozhikode district, there are about 5,300 fishing boats and a population of 20,000 active fishermen who are expected to get the benefits of the new yard, which is expected to have all modern facilities to cater the whole Malabar region. Fisheries officials say a separate boat building yard planned at Ponnani harbour too would come to the aid of the fishers here. Earlier, there was a proposal to set up a small boat maintenance yard at Puthiyappa in the private sector, but it failed to win government approval. What we sought was the setting up of a fully-equipped maintenance yard, which can even repair larger fishing vessels, says M. Vasu, another fishing boat owner. He also points out that a maintenance yard at the government sector can largely cut the cost of repair works compared to that of the private agencies.