The heavy accumulation of silt in the sea mouth at the Thengaithittu fishing harbour has resulted in fishermen from several coastal hamlets facing the daily hassle of steering their boats away from sand bar obstructions while venturing out to sea for fishing.
For the last two years, fishermen have been finding it difficult to let their boats into sea for fishing or coming back into the fishing harbour as no dredging has been done here for several months. A fisherman representative said that fishermen organisations had made several representations to the authorities to deepen the sea mouth but to no avail.
Kangeyan, former president of the Puducherry boat owners association, said that in the last one year, as many as 20 boats had been damaged after hitting the sand bar in the sea mouth. “Routine dredging is not being carried out here. We have been repeatedly asking the authorities at the Fisheries Department to look into this. During low tide, boats get entangled in the sea mouth and are wrecked endangering the lives of fishermen. Fishermen usually set out to sea when the tidal waves are high to avoid hitting the sand bar. If they are early or late, then there is a high chance of running aground,” he said.
The fishermen also suffer huge financial losses, as their boats are wrecked after getting stuck in the sand, Mr. Kangeyan said.
M. Ilango, former MLA and chairperson of the National Fishworkers Forum, has demanded a thorough probe into the haphazard manner in which dredging was carried out in the harbour over the last two years.
“The government had spent nearly Rs.7 crore during 2014-15 and 2015-16 for dredging over 1.40 lakh cubic metres of sand. However, a few officials along with vested interests had created false accounts and the fund was not properly utilised. A thorough probe should be conducted by the government,” Mr. Ilango told The Hindu.
Insurance companies are also not coming forward to offer compensation for boats damaged after hitting the sand bars. A monitoring committee comprising of elected representatives, fishermen and officials from the Port Department and PWD should be constituted to monitor dredging works, he added.
