Vizag fishing harbour to be smoke-free zone

Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam district officials are planning to convert the Vizag fishing harbour area into a no-smoking zone following the recent fire mishap which reduced nearly 50 boats to ashes. It was identified that even after returning from voyages, the fishermen are leaving diesel tanks full and cooking gas cylinders unattended on their anchored boats at the harbour – a recipe for disaster waiting to happen. In these conditions, even a spark in a single boat may be sufficient to cause a chain reaction of fiery chaos due to stockage of flammable inventories in others as happened in the recent fire accident. Speaking to ToI, Visakhapatnam fisheries joint director Shaik Lal Mohammad said they are planning to enforce no-smoking rule at the fishing harbour, considering how careless smoking can ignite combustibles like diesel, cooking gas, wooden boats, fishing nets, etc. “We want to implement it with the support of other line departments like Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and the city police,” said the fisheries joint director. When asked what had happened to the destroyed boats, Lal Mohammad said they earmarked a five-acre area near the 11th 12th jetty area within the harbour to breathe life back into the boats gutted by the fire and sank into the sea. “The vessels will be lifted from the deep by using heavy cranes. The bottoms and the steel used in these boats would remain intact. About 6.5 crore was distributed to the owners of 30 boats which were completely damaged in the fire accidents. The owners of the 19 partially damaged boats got nearly 70 lakh. The nearly 376 people who work on these boats have been provided with 10,000 each,” said Lal Mohammad. A boat caught fire after a cooking gas cylinder exploded near the Kakinada coast three days ago. However, no casualties were reported due to the timely action of the Coast Guard. National fisherfolk forum general secretary Arjili Dasu said the Union government started implementing the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana with about 25,000 crore for a period of five years, starting from 2020. “One of the key components proposed under the scheme was insurance for fishing vessels and fishermen. However, this proposed benefit is yet to reach the fishermen,” said Dasu. Andhra Pradesh mechanised boat owners’ association president Vasupalli Janakiram said Vizag fishing harbour has about 750 mechanised boats. “The recent fire accident was a rare occurrence. Insurance will definitely help the fishermen to recoup their losses in case of any untoward incident, as some big boats cost as high as 1.2 crore,” said Janakiram.