THANJAVUR: With the dry dock facility at the Mallipattinam fishing harbour set up by the fisheries department in 2019 yet to be put into use, local mechanised boat owners, who number over 150, complain that they are forced to shell out more money for vessel maintenance by availing of the services of private operators.
As part of the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction Project with credit from World Bank, the reconstruction and modernisation of the fishing harbour at Mallipattinam in the district was taken up at a cost of around `60 crore and the project was completed in the second half of 2019. As part of the project a renovated fish landing facility, fish auction hall, net mending halls and a dry dock for lifting mechanised boats out of water and undertaking their maintenance were also established.
Even after six years, the dry docking facility has not been put to use, say fishermen and boat owners. R Raguvaran (50) of Mallipattinam, who has commissioned the repair of his mechanised boat in view of the 61-day fishing ban that commenced on April 15, said, “I spent Rs 23,000 towards lifting the boat using a private operator who lifts boats using wire ropes and berth them on shore for repairs".
"If the dry dock had been in operation, I could have saved up to Rs 10,000", he added. A visit by TNIE found that the boat track systems of the dry dock had rusted and the room for the motor which is to be used to pull the iron ropes attached to the floats under the boat remained locked. Some fishermen alleged that the dry dock has been designed only for repairing bigger mechanised boats as in the case of Thoothukudi and Chennai.
Fisheries department officials, however, did not comment on it. M Mohammed Jalaludin, the treasurer of Mechanised Boats Owners association of Mallipattinam, remarked that the dry dock could be put to use at least by leasing it out. Mentioning there being more than 150 mechanised boats in Mallipattinam, he added that there is also a need for constructing a groyne so that the boats don’t suffer damage in heavy winds that push the vessels against the harbour walls.
When contacted fisheries officials told TNIE that the department’s fishing harbour project division has prepared a proposal for renovation of the dry dock at the Mallipattinam harbour.