THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The district administration has decided to invoke the Disaster Management Act at Muthalapozhi as the meeting convened by Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian failed to reach a consensus. The harbour was shut down following sand accumulation along its mouth, which has brought fishing operations to a grinding halt for the past four days.
Trade unions, fishermen and other allied workers have been on the warpath since the closure of the harbour. On Wednesday, a section of fishermen took out a protest march and conducted a dharna at the office of the assistant executive engineer of the harbour engineering department.
The meeting chaired by the minister decided to launch dredging activities at the Muthalapozhi harbour mouth from Thursday. The minister assured protesters that the harbour mouth will be reinstated by May 15. He said that advanced machinery will be employed to expedite dredging activities. Cherian also announced that the project to extend the breakwater, to ensure safety of fishing vessels, will take off by March 20.
District Collector Anu Kumari told TNIE that proceedings under the DM Act will be issued on Thursday to break the sandbar at Muthalapozhi estuary. Many panchayats in the region are under flood threat as the estuary remains closed owing to sand accumulation. The attempts made by the department to remove the sandbar in the past days failed owing to protest from fishermen.
However, fishermen remain adamant, saying that they will intensify their protest on Thursday and will not allow authorities to break the sandbar without bringing a dredger.
“We don’t trust any of the decisions taken and we have decided to intensify protest. We will stall the activities to open the sandbar tomorrow at any cost. We will not allow them to do the work without bringing the dredger,” said Sajeev Salahudheen, vice-chairman of the Muthalapozhi Avakasa Samithi.
He said many people have lost their lives because of the lousy and inadequate dredging activities of the department. “The government didn’t promise any relief in the meeting,” he added.
With the monsoon season fast approaching, the department has decided to intensify operations by working 20 hours a day to expedite the clearing of the harbour mouth.
An official said that a dredger owned by the Maritime Board is being transported from Azheekal via sea and is expected to reach Muthalapozhi within 10 days.
As an interim measure, Anu Kumari reached out to the Kollam district collector to accommodate displaced fishermen from Muthalapozhi at Sakthikulangara harbour. She said that the Kollam collector will hold a meeting soon with representatives of the harbour to ensure that fishermen from Muthalapozhi are accommodated there without any issue.