Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said on Tuesday that he is confident that the new fisheries harbour at Hejamadi Kodi in Udupi district will be ready in two years from now.
Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone for building the harbour at an estimated cost of ₹ 180.84 crore, which includes ₹ 13.24 crore for acquiring 12.20 acres of private land, the Chief Minister said that he has instructed the department concerned to complete the project in two years. He said that he had announced the launching of the project in the Budget for 2020-21.
The Chief Minister said that of the project cost, the Union government will give ₹ 69.30 crore and the share of the State government stood at ₹ 111.54 crore. The Union government has already released ₹ 13.86 crore for the project from its share. Once commissioned, the new port will reduce pressure on fisheries harbours both at Malpe and Mangaluru.
Funds will not be a constraint to complete the project, he said and added that there should be no compromise on the quality of works and there should not be any delay, Mr. Yediyurappa said.
The State with a coastline of 320 km and with around 8,000 hectares of inland waters has played a key role in boosting the economy through fisheries.
He said that the State government is implementing various schemes for socio-economic uplift of fishermen. The government led by him has waived around ₹ 60 crore loans availed of by fishermen. The budgetary outlay for fisheries development in the State budget of 2020-21 was ₹ 251.57 crore with Centrally-sponsored schemes accounting for ₹ 200 crore. The State is providing ₹ 135 crore on subsidising diesel for fishing boats.
Referring to the other demands of fishermen community, he said that they will be addressed in due course of time.
Earlier, he visited the Mahalakshmi Temple at Uchchila along National Highway 66. After laying the foundation stone, the Chief Minister participated in a 1008 Naarikela Ganayaga organised at Vinayaka Temple at Kumbhasi near Kundapur.
