Fishermen of Samanthanpettai coastal village in Nagapattinam district can heave a sigh of relief as the State government has sanctioned ₹40 crore for construction of a mini fishing harbour after considering their long-pending demand.
More than 500 families live in Samanthanpettai and their livelihood depends on fishing. The villagers use nearly 170 motor boats and 26 mechanised boats for fishing, docking them at the neighbouring Akkaraipettai fishing harbour. The situation has increased the space constraints in Akkaraipettai, which is also a prominent fishers’ hamlet.
Fishers of Samanthanpettai have been demanding a fishing harbour in their vicinity for years. Recently, Minister for Fisheries, Fishermen Welfare and Animal Husbandry Anitha R. Radhakrishnan announced during the discussion on demands for grants in the Assembly that the State government would sanction ₹40 crore for construction of a new mini fishing harbour in the village.
Nagapattinam MLA J. Mohamed Sha Navas told The Hindu a few months ago that a team from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, carried out a feasibility study to establish a mini fishing harbour and submitted its report, based on which the government gave the green signal for the project.
The new harbour would reduce the congestion at Akkaraipettai and provide a sustainable livelihood for the fishers of Samanthanpettai. The proposed harbour would include a dockyard, fish landing centre and cold storage facilities, he added.
At present, the Nagapattinam district has a major fishing harbour at Akkaraipettai and a medium fishing harbour at Nambiyar Nagar. The construction work of the ongoing fishing harbour mooted by the previous government at Vellapallam at ₹100 crore and Arcottuthurai at ₹150 crore has reached a physical progress of 33% and 62%, respectively.
Coastal erosion
Further, the government has accorded administrative sanction to construct breakwater structures for preventing the shore from coastal erosion at Keechankuppam and Pattinamcherry fishermen hamlets and earmarked ₹14 crore for the project, said N. Gowthaman, Chairman of Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation.
Nearly 60% of the construction of groynes in the Nambiyar Nagar harbour under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of NABARD has been completed. Steps are under way to build a stone wall breakwater structure at Velankanni at ₹3 crore, he added.