Established in 2019, dry dock at Mallipattinam yet to be put into use

WITH the dry dock facility at the Mallipattinam fishing harbour set up by the fisheries department in 2019 yet to be put into use, local mechanised boat owners, who number over 150, complain that they are forced to shell out more money for vessel maintenance by availing of the services of private operators.

- N RAMESH @Thanjavur

As part of the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction Project with credit from World Bank, the reconstruction and modernisation of the fishing harbour at Mallipattinam in the district was taken up at a cost of around ₹60 crore and the project was completed in the second half of 2019.

As part of the project a renovated fish landing facility, fish auction hall, net mending halls and a dry dock for lifting mechanised boats out of water and undertaking their maintenance were also established.