Posted on July 23, 2018
By Team Herald, Herald
To ensure safety of fishermen venturing into rivers, the Captain of Ports (CoP) has decided to undertake dredging at the mouth of four rivers — Chapora, Sal, Talpona and Galjibag, in phased manner.
PANJIM: To ensure safety of fishermen venturing into rivers, the Captain of Ports (CoP) has decided to undertake dredging at the mouth of four rivers — Chapora, Sal, Talpona and Galjibag, in phased manner.
In the first phase, the work across the sand bars at mouth of River Chapora will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore. The project has already got environment clearance (EC) from the Coastal Zone Management Authority and the tender for the same would be opened on July 24.
Speaking to Herald, Minister for Port Administration Jayesh Salgaonkar said that CoP is entrusted to undertake dredging at the mouth of River Chapora, Sal, Galjibag and Talpona following consistent requests from fishing communities, who were finding it difficult to venture into rivers, especially during low tide.
“The boat owners had complained that the shallow depth was a major hurdle to venture out to the sea for fishing even during the high tide,” he said.
The minister informed that as far as Galjibag and Talpona river projects are concerned, the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) is in the process of conducting the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study. “Once it is done, we will go for EC and accordingly issue tender,” he said.
As far as River Sal is concerned, Salgaonkar said that CoP would take up works like cleaning of river beds, dredging and clearing of all vegetations.
Source: Herald
