Fishing harbour bore the brunt of devastation triggered by severe cyclonic storm Hudhud with an estimated 60 mechanised boats getting sunk and 250 partially damaged.
Seething with anger at the colossal tragedy, the shell-shocked boat owners blame the Visakhapatnam Port for not listening to their pleas to remove sunken/abandoned trawlers or evacuating at least half of 500-odd mechanised boats to the inner harbour.
“Port is solely responsible for the irreparable loss suffered by us. We are rendered jobless for a long time as we don’t have insurance for most of our boats,” says Ch. Satyanarayana Murthy, an owner. One of his boats got sunk and another suffered heavy damage due to turbulence in the sea and gusty winds.
Not only Mr. Murthy, several boat owners whom The Hindu met a day after the storm battered the coast found fault with the port authorities for ignoring their representations. “The Pollution Control Board is not giving no-objection certificate because of which fishing congestion is not being addressed by removing the trawlers for scrapping,” a port official pointed out adding they were trying to sort out the issue.
There are 13 abandoned trawlers due to court cases and 14 totally sunk occupying almost one-third of berthing space at the fishing harbour for past three years, which is under maintenance of the port.
Though nearly 4,000 crew members were asked to stay on-board the boats, later the owners’ associations asked them to vacate due to unprecedented turbulence in the sea. “I have never seen such menacing waves and winds with such high speed in my four-decade long fishing career,” remarked R. Appanna, a driver-cum-owner.
Each boat provides employment to eight people. Now the boats will be out of action for a long time, the crew were worried about their future. “I have not seen such devastation. I don’t know, how I can ensure two square meals a day till normalcy is restored,” said Mylipalli Chinna Appanna, a khalasi.
Each mechanised boat costs Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 40 lakh depending on its length and capacity.
