The Port Department has engaged MARG Karaikal Port Ltd to dredge around 75,000 cubic metres of sand on either side of the tunnel at the Ariyankuppam river mouth to enable fishermen to navigate their vessels in and out of the harbour.
MARG commenced dredging on Thursday as per the sub-contract.
The mouth would be dredged up to a depth of five metres to enable free movement of fishing vessels. The work was expected to be completed in the next two to three weeks, a Port Department official said.
A top government official said that the Dredging Corporation (DCI) had already dredged 3 lakh cubic metres of sand as per the contract.
However, fishermen found it difficult to navigate their vessels to the harbour owing to silt accumulation because of the rough sea over the last two weeks.
Hence, the department had awarded the sub-contract to MARG Karaikal Ltd. for emergency dredging to make the channel navigable for fishing vessels, he said.
Meanwhile, Welfare Minister M. Kandasamy accompanied by AIADMK MLA A. Anbalagan on Friday inspected the Ariyankuppam river mouth at the new port here.
Talking to reporters, he said that fishermen were not able to venture into the sea for the last two weeks due to heavy accumulation of silt.
The work would coast around ₹3 crore, he said.
Mr. Anbalagan said that for the last two years, fishermen had been finding it difficult to let their boats into the sea or bringing them back as no dredging had been done here for several months.
The decision to hand over dredging to the DCI had resulted in unnecessary expenditure and accumulation of silt at the harbour, he said.