Bracing up to update the communication system of mechanised and country boat fishermen in the east coast, the Tamil Nadu fisheries department has launched distribution of Very High Frequency (VHF) sets with World Bank assistance.
The State government, which implemented Fisheries Management for Sustainable Livelihoods (FIMSUL-II) under the World Bank trust fund for tsunami recovery, has launched the distribution of 25 watt VHF sets to mechanised boat fishermen and 5 watt VHF sets to country boat fishermen and began establishing wireless towers at the total cost of ₹ 62.14 crore.
In the first phase, the government would distribute 2,535 VHF sets of 25 watt capacity and 15,004 VHF sets of 5 watt capacity to the fishermen in east coast from Chennai to Kanniyakumari, G S Sameeran, Additional Director of Fisheries has said. Before distributing the sets the efficacy of the VHF sets will be tested while sailing to the fullest satisfaction of fishermen,” he told The Hindu .
The installation of the VHF sets with antenna in select boats was done on Wednesday and the actual test while sailing would be done on Thursday, he added. A team of experts, accompanied by officials and fishermen would test the sets on the high seas off Rameswaram at the prescribed range and on the line of signal, he said.
The department do not believe in distributing the sets just for name sake and “we want to ensure that the sets are really useful to the fishermen when they venture into the sea for fishing,” he said.
The 25 watt VHF sets were being given to the mechanised boat fishermen at 75% subsidy and the beneficiaries would be required to pay ₹7,208 per set in addition to ₹500 towards Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) licence issued by the Union Ministry of Communications, he said. The 5 watt VHF sets were given at 100% subsidy and the country boat fishermen have to pay only the WPC licence fee of ₹ 500, he said.
The fisheries department has taken on lease, 8 towers – one police and seven BSNL towers and was establishing 7 new towers with control rooms on the east coast for seamless communication, he said.
