THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite strict orders from the state government to the Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd (AVPPL) to carry out dredging at Muthalapozhi, the infamous estuary that claimed around 70 lives in the past eight years, fishermen and harbour engineering department (HED) officials say the work has been ineffective and unsatisfactory. Members of the fishermen's community allege the dredging activities are neither happening regularly nor effectively.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between HED and AVPPL in 2018, the latter is responsible for clearing sediment accumulation and maintaining a depth of 5m to keep the channel at Muthalapozhi estuary navigable for fishing boats, thereby preventing accidents.
However, fishermen are unhappy with both the quality and frequency of the work. “Dredging activities have been stalled for the past one week. The work is not up to the mark. This is the time when they should be carrying the work in full swing. It will be monsoon soon,” said Valerian Issac, district president of Kerala Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Federation.
Issac alleged the authorities were hardly bothered about all this. “We have decided to take the matter up with the fisheries minister and HED soon. A memorandum will be submitted to them in the coming week,” he said.
Issac said members of the fishermen community are extremely apprehensive as monsoon will bring chaos and put their lives in danger. “So many people have lost their lives here. If the authorities continue to work like this, more people will die once monsoon arrives,” he said. An official with HED too said the dredging work by AVPPL has not been satisfactory.
The MoU signed between the HED and AVPPL will expire in April and the the department is readying proposals to resume the ongoing work.
“Until the agreement expires, it’s the responsibility of the Adani Ports to maintain 5-metre depth at Muthalapozhi. A high-level meeting was held in this regard and the firm has agreed to bring in more machinery and resume dredging activities in full swing from February 15,” said the official.
The state government has set aside `5 crore for Muthalapozhi harbour. “We will soon be placing the proposal before the state government. Our plan is to invite tender and engage another contractor to resume the dredging activities,” said the official.
Proposal soon
The HED is gearing up to prepare a proposal based on the recommendations from the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), the expert agency engaged by the government to study the situation at Muthalapozhi. “We will be submitting the proposal before the Union government before the Lok Sabha elections are declared,” said the official.
‘Dredging to be completed by March 31’
“We will complete the dredging activities by March 31 and officially hand it over to the state government,” said a spokesperson of Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd. “The work got stalled because the machinery encountered issues and in the past ten days we couldn’t do dredging activities efficiently because of that. We have submitted our work schedule to the government and the concerned authorities. The dredging activities have resumed from today (Friday).” The official said that as per the instruction by the state government, a guide light and navigation buoy (floating markers that alert ships of high-risk areas) will be installed once the dredging activities are completed.