Breakwater facility soon at Thengapattanam harbour

MADURAI: In a bid to safeguard the interests of the fishermen, authorities in Kanniyakumari district have planned to construct a breakwater facility at Thengapattanam fishing harbour.

The seafront infrastructure will come up to a length covering 630 metres to maintain safe conditions at sea to benefit fishermen of Thengapattanam and Erayumanthurai, sources said.

Kanniyakumari Collector M Arvind along with officials from the department of fisheries inspected the harbour on Wednesday. During his schedule, the Collector enquired with the officials concerned and technical experts about the process of dredging.

Meanwhile, stakeholders of the Thengapattanam fishing harbour approached the Collector and placed their demands to execute the project without any delay. They wanted the work to commence from the western portion of the harbour and execute dredging works with high capacity equipment.

After hearing their views, the Collector instructed the authorities, including executive engineer, fishing harbour project, Nagercoil, to expedite the works.

P Alarmelmangai, sub-collector, Padmabhapuram, deputy director of fisheries, Kasinathapandian and other officials from fisheries and revenue departments accompanied the Collector during the inspection.

Some fishermen felt boats, which remain docked in shore, suffer damage at times of high tides. Moreover, the harbour is exposed to river mouth and heavy tides occur often. Hence, the much awaited breakwater facility was a need of the hour to protect the boats, sources said.

Some other fisher folks also felt the need for constructing groynes to protect shorelines of Alikkal, Kottilpadu, Vallavilai and Marthandamthurai from erosion.