MANGALURU: The New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) now faces opposition from local traditional fishermen for breaching a dredger near Surathkal Light House.
The fishermen claim that despite opposition, the NMPT tug silently pulled and anchored the vessel after sunset when no one was present around the seashore. It should be recalled that after a leak was reported from the dredger named Bhagavati Prem, a team of port officials led by Deputy Conservator on Monday, around 9:15 am swung into action and finally beached the 2007-built vessel at Guddekoppa shore.
The NMPT claimed that they had no option but to beach the vessel in the view of larger public interest and to avoid any sort of oil spillage incident. NMPT also said that the owner of the vessel, M/S Mercator Ltd, had issued notices several times to remove the vessel from the port limits or to keep it in a sound condition so that any untoward incident could be avoided, which was ignored by the company.
A local fisherman, Sudheer S, said that the dredger was anchored for many months at six to eight nautical miles on the sea and at NMPT port limits.
On Monday morning, a NMPT tug was pulling the vessel and the community sensed that they may beach at Guddekoppa. The community members started to shoot videos for a long time to stop the beaching and even signalled.
Following the opposition, the NMPT officials brought the vessel near the shore and indicated that they were simply pulling it on the sea using tug. This continued until sunset.
However, when the fishermen went away at around 8 am, the dredger was beached silently and lights were put off and the captain of the vessel was carried away by the NMPT officials. They beached it very cunningly, Sudheer pointed out. He added that the parking of the vessel will also lead to sea erosion.
Another fisherman said that now the vessel would harm traditional fishing. He said, "As many as 20 boats here do shore fishing using the net and now we face the risk of destruction to our boats and nets. The nets will tear if it touches the blade of the vessel or any sharp material of Bhagavati Prem."
The fishermen community after a meeting has resolved to demand the immediate removal of this vessel from the shore.
Manohar Bolar, president of Karnataka Karavali Fishermen' Action Committee, said that the vessel can be towed to the Gujarat coast and should be removed from here. He said, "The fishermen will not allow NMPT or the company to break the vessel at the shore which will lead to oil spillage. The authorities have to fix the problem of the ship and have to tow it from this place. If there is oil spillage, it will have a direct impact on the population of fish."
Deputy Conservator of the port, SS Patnaik, when contacted, said that beaching is normal marine activity and that the vessel will be removed by the company. He said the vessel had to be beached in the larger public interest as another cyclone was on its way.
On asking what would happen if the company owning the dredger abandons the vessel, he said action would be initiated against the company as per the law.