The State Government has moved the Centre seeking allotment of six acre of waterfront at Paradip for expansion of the local fishing harbour on which a large number of fishermen depend to earn livelihood. Chief Secretary AP Padhi on Wednesday wrote a letter to Union Shipping Secretary Rajive Kumar in this regard. Recently, Union Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Secretary Devendra Chaudhry and senior officials of the Central Institute of Coastal Engineering for Fisheries (CICEF) had visited the fishing harbor and talked to fishermen. During discussion with the State Fisheries and ARD Secretary Bishnupada Sethi, they suggested for expansion of the fishing harbor. Now, the State Government has moved for expansion of the harbor with an additional jetty, said Padhi. For the new jetty, 80X300 meters of waterfront, which accounts for 6.5 acres, belonging to the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) is needed. In his letter, Padhi brought to the notice of the Union Shipping Secretary that Paradip fishing harbor is a leading fish landing centre on the East Coast from where as many as 640 mechanized fishing vessels and 100 fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) boats are operating. The PPT authorities had taken up dredging of the channel during 1997-98, but thereafter no maintenance work was done. The State Government has urged the Centre for early dredging of navigational channel for smooth and safe navigation. Recently, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had expressed concern over growing siltation near the Mahanadi river mouth urged the Centre to take up dredging work. The Bangalore-based Central of Coastal Engineering for Fishery has reported that the siltation has been aggravated because of beach nourishment drive taken up by the PPT to protect the sea wall. No remedial measures have been taken to check movement of sand towards the river mouth and the navigation channel, the Chief Minister had pointed out in his letter to Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. Over 30,000 people are depending on the fishing harbor for livelihood, said an Fishing Department officials.
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