Work apace in Vellayil harbour.

The progress of works for Vellayil fishing harbour, which once was an important fish-landing centre of the district, is being followed keenly by the fishing community here.

The project is expected to help develop the state of affairs for the sizeable fishing community of Vellayil in Kozhikode.

After 10 months of beginning the works, construction of two breakwaters (Pulimuttu), a major part of the project, is well over the half way mark.

On a visit to the site to review the progress on Monday, M.K. Raghavan, MP, said the project would be completed before the deadline if the current momentum continued. As per the contract, the project was expected to be completed in January 2017. 'It could be completed by March 2016 itself if the works progresses in the same pace,” he said.

Once completed, the harbour could operate and dock as many as 250 medium-to-large fishing boats here. It would also be capable of handling around 9,000 tonnes of fish and provide job opportunities to nearly 2,300 fishermen.

The glory of Vellayil was lost when the mode of fishing changed from the eight-men traditional country boat to 40-men mechanised trawlers and fibre boats in the early 1980s, according to N.P. Radhakrishnan, convenor of the Harbour Development Committee.

The fishermen then started moving to the Beypore and Puthiyappa harbours, which developed with better facilities later. 'Now the entire fishing community here is waiting excitedly to see those glorious old days come back to Vellayil,' said Mr. Radhakrishnan.

The Vellayil region, starting from the Lions Park and ends with the Fisheries Office at West Hill along the coastal line, has the most number of active fishing communities in the region. Hundreds of these fisher folk will not have to travel all the way to Beypore or Puthiyappa in the odd hours of the day once the facility at Vellayil becomes operational.

'The project will also make things easy for the common man, as the harbour will bring an active fish market closer to them in the city,' said N.P. Usman, president of the Harbour Development Committee.

Once the work for the breakwaters was completed, a series of related facilities including the freezing room, auction hall, jetty, and parking facilities would come up in the area.

'The Minister of Ports is expected to hold a meeting to review the progress of the work in Thiruvananthapuram recently,' said Mr. Usman.


THE HINDU