Mangalore, June 10: Karnataka Minister for Fisheries Abhayachandra Jain, in his first ever visit to the Mangalore Old Port, after assuming the charge as minister, said here that the fisheries department will take action to vacate the stay order on the development work of Old Fisheries Harbour at Bunder.
A commission appointed by the NGT would visit the Old Port on June 12 for inspection, he informed on June 9.
The construction work which was initially estimated at Rs 57. 60 crore was revised at Rs 98.25 crore, this was brought to a halt when the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal ordered the maintenance of status-quo.
Albuquerque Tile Factory Owner Octavia Albuquerque and others filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal claiming that the project was fouling up a creek adjacent to the tile factory in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.
Communicating to media persons, the minister said that steps have been taken to construct 900 metres of the fisheries jetty at Kotepura in Ullal at a cost of Rs. 5 crore. The project is taken up under the NABARD which is likely to send the approval in one month. He also informed that a proposal has been sent to the Central government to develop 680 metres long fisheries jetty at Kulai. This has been the demand of fishermen for long. It will be ensured that the government clears the proposal at the earliest.
Speaking on the delay of dredging the fishing jetty, Jain said that the State government has planned to buy the dredging machines and take up the work, instead of contracting works to outside dredging firms based in Mumbai. The government is now considering the proposal to take up the dredging work on its own in all the three coastal districts, the minister said.
