Post News Network
Basudevpur, April 19: One of the most important ports in the eastern part of the country since the first century BC till the second half of the 19th century along with Dhamara, the Chudamani port is now just a faint reminder of its glorious days.
While Dhamara port has received all the government attention and is flourishing still, Chudamani lies in a deplorable state. Originally located in the undivided Balasore district, the port lies at the river mouth of Gamei on Bay of Bengal coast and is now a part of Bhadrak district.
In its prime days, the port used to facilitate easy and safe movements of ships, boosting maritime trade, due to the depth of the river mouth. But it has continued to lose its utility because of silting of the sea floor over the years. If nothing is done for the dilapidated port now, the ancient port will completely lose its existence soon.
Experts believe that Chudamani has a lot of potential to be harnessed for maritime trade.
“The port has the potential to be a national level hub for import and export of fish, if the government pays attention to its development. It will also usher in development of the peripheral area,” observed Chintamani Das, a social worker.
However, both the state and central governments have given a short shrift to its development. Last year, the state government took an initiative for its development, but it couldn’t move beyond the signing of an MoU. Till date no work has been done at the site.
Most importantly, over 10,000 fishermen families living in the Gamei river basin are dependent on fishing in the sea. In order to protect the traditional occupation of fishermen and bolster their economic condition, the government in 1980 drew up a plan to construct a jetty. Then Chief Minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik laid the foundation stone for the jetty January 19, 1981. Three years later, it was dedicated to the people in 1984.
But due to lack of repair and maintenance, the jetty is now in a dilapidated condition. Many of its facilities have developed cracks and fallen into disuse with over 15,000 fishermen deprived of using these facilities.
Currently, 64 trawlers, 64 mechanised boats and 24 gillnets operate in the port area, providing livelihood to fishermen of Chudamani, Adhuna, Iram, Nuagan, Radhanathpur Adia and Iram Adia.
In 2013-14 fiscal, the jetty recorded fish production of 3100.80 tonnes. The jetty area comprises 11 barracks, five store rooms, a fish-packing hall, an auction hall and an office. All these facilities are is a deplorable and unsafe condition for lack of maintenance.
Fishermen allege that no boat or a launch gets anchored near the auction hall, causing a lot of inconveniences to them. Besides, the light house has been in disuse while there are no drinking water and electricity facilities in the area. The only bore well is lying unused. The fishermen have to face a lot of problem due to absence of drinking water and electricity.
The jetty also requires a drainage system to let out filthy water emanating from catches. With water overflowing everywhere, the jetty stinks and is nauseating.
Babaji Malick, a fisherman, rued that boats and launchers often get stuck and suffer damage as the depth of the river mouth is reduced. Besides, scores of stones dislodged from embankment of the river create hurdles for movement of boats, he said.
The marine fisheries department should initiate steps for development of necessary infrastructure of the port to promote fish production apart from making it fully operational, president of Chudamani Radhanathdeipur Fishermen’s Association, Niranjan Mallick said.
