Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday, May 15, 2023 declared open a newly built fishing harbour at Tharangambadi in Mayiladuthurai district through video conferencing from Secretariat in Chennai.
Fishing forms the primary source of livelihood for the villagers of 10 coastal hamlets near Tharangambadi in Mayiladuthurai district. For many years, the fishermen had been demanding better infrastructure facilities as they suffered severe loss of livelihood during natural disasters, particularly during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and 2018 Gaja cyclone.
The non-availability of a fishing harbour forced the fishermen to dock their boats at various places far away from their village. To mitigate the difficulties of the fishermen and improve their socio-economic conditions, the State government accorded administrative sanction for constructing a new fishing harbour at Tharangambadi in 2019.
Recently, the Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare completed the project with a total outlay of ₹ 120 crore under the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund(FIDF). The newly constructed harbour has been designed to facilitate the docking of 800 fibre boats and 225 mechanised boats.
The other infrastructure facilities include breakwater structures on both the Northern and Southern ends of the harbour for the boats to enter and exit, a fish auctioning yard, a fishing net mending shed, an overhead water tank, and administrative and security buildings.
Fishermen from Chinnamedu, Vellakoil, Chinnangudi, Kuttiyandiyur, Thazhampettai, Pudupettai, Chandrapadi, Perumalpettai and Chinnoorpettai will benefit from the new harbour. District Collector AP. Mahabharathi, Mayiladuthurai MP S. Ramalingam, MLAs Nivedha M. Murugan, and M. Panneerselvam were present at Tharangambadi during the inauguration.
