Strong winds struck the city late on Sunday, blowing away many fishing boats anchored at the old port jetty to Kasba Bengre, which is more than a kilometre away.
When Minister for Ports and Inland Water Transport J. Krishna Palemar and MLA N. Yogish Bhat visited Bengre on Monday, fishermen told them that they were able to bring 25 boats to safety, while 12 more were still grounded at Kasba Bengre. These 12 boats had been slightly damaged, they said.
The fishermen urged the Government to construct a 500-m-long jetty at Bengre so that they could tie the boats after anchoring. Some of them demanded that the estuary be dredged.
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Later, Mr. Palemar told presspersons that the damage to the boats would be assessed and steps taken to provide compensation. The Government would first take up dredging and consider constructing the jetty later. The dredging might cost about Rs. 10 crore.
The Government had invited bids for removing the wreckage of the fishing boat that had sunk at the Gurupur estuary at Bengre. Fishermen had been complaining that the wreckage was posing danger to their boats.