Puthiyappa boat maintenance yard project yet to take off

Maintenance work in progress at a private boat repair yard near Beypore in Kozhikode on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

A proposal to establish a public-sector boat maintenance yard at Puthiyappa harbour, which had raised hopes among hundreds of mechanised fishing boat owners in the district, is yet to take off, leaving operators dependent on private facilities for repairs and maintenance.

The Harbour Engineering department had earlier submitted a ₹19-crore proposal for a fully equipped maintenance yard at Puthiyappa. The project had also received the Fisheries department’s backing, with assurances that steps would be taken for its speedy implementation. However, the proposal has remained a pipe dream, with no field-level study or fund sanction having materialised so far.

“The continued delay has become a concern for boat owners, particularly as the Fisheries department is now undertaking fitness inspections of mechanised fishing boats for safety reasons,” said Abdul Azeez, a boat owner from Beypore. In the absence of a government facility, operators are forced to depend on the limited capacity of a few private maintenance yards at Beypore, he said, adding that major repair works often had to be entrusted to establishments in Kochi.