Will Kulai fisheries harbour be on the fast track?

Project yet to get nod from Karnataka State Environment Impact Assessment Authority

January 29, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 10:23 am IST - MANGALURU:

Karnataka, Mangaluru: 28/01/2015: This is the place of near Govt. Ice Factory, which is  identified for proposed fishing port construction  at Kulai near  in Mangaluru. Photo: H.S.Manjunath

Karnataka, Mangaluru: 28/01/2015: This is the place of near Govt. Ice Factory, which is identified for proposed fishing port construction at Kulai near in Mangaluru. Photo: H.S.Manjunath

Will the Rs. 151-crore project to construct a fisheries harbour at Kulai — a long-pending demand of fishermen — be fast tracked?

Mangaluru City North MLA B.A. Mohinuddin Bava had gone on record that the go-ahead to the project was given at a meeting with Minister of State for Fisheries K. Abhayachandra Jain in November 8, 2014 but officials maintain that the project still has many hurdles to cross before it is approved and the work begins.

The project to provide a jetty for about 300 boats has been designed by Bengaluru-based Central Institute for Coastal Engineering for Fishery. It is yet to get the nod from the Karnataka State Environment Impact Assessment Authority before it is sent to the Centre for approval.

New Mangalore Port Trust has assigned the environment study to Ahmedabad-based Eco Chem Enterprises and a report is expected in about six months.

Funding

Finances is a crucial issue. Initially, the Centre was expected to bear 75 per cent of the cost with the NMPTbearing 20 per cent and the State 5 per cent.

But the Centre has scaled down its funding to 40 per cent.

A NMPT source said that the trust offered to bear half of the additional burden. “If the State government writes to us, we get the approval (for spending more on the project),” the source said.

But sources indicate that the State government is not keen to provide more than 5 per cent of the cost and it hopes to persuade NMPT to bear all the additional cost.

A delegation of Mangaluru Elu Patna Mogaveera Samyukta Sabha met Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim demanding that the project be fast-tracked.

The sabha, in a release, said that that he has promised a meeting of all stakeholders including NMPT and officials from the Department of Fisheries to expedite the matter.

While Mangaluru Elu Patna Mohaveera Samyukta Sabha general secretary Laxman Amin Kodikal said that an all-weather fisheries harbour was promised when fisherfolk parted with their land for NMPT in 1964, port authorities denied this.

On his part, NMPT Chairman P.C. Parida maintained the port was keen to invest in it to ensure that fishermen would avoid bringing the catch to the high-security port during rainy reason. Denial of permission to fishermen to do that in past had hurt the sentiments of the community.

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