Fani boosts boat making industry

KENDRAPARA: Cyclone Fani which ripped through several villagers and rendered thousands homeless has, however, provided work to the boat makers of the district.
With hundreds of boats damaged during the cyclonic storm, the manufacturing units are now buzzing with activity where over 200 men are engaged in making new boats and repairing damaged ones.
Carpenters are working round-the-clock at workshop where 32 damaged boats have been brought by the fishermen for repair within a month, said Pabitra Mandal, a boat maker of Kharinashi village.

Harekrushna Behera, a boat maker, said this has turned out to be the peak period for us as many owners need repair of their vessels and some have also placed order for new ones after Fani. I received orders from 10 boat owners to repair their vessels and six fishermen placed order for new fishing boats for which I have engaged 10 carpenters for the works,” said Basant Moharana of Ramanagar.

“I moored my boat at the fishing harbour at Jamboo after the cyclone alert. The boat got damaged after it collided with other boats due to strong wind and storms on May 3. I managed to bring the damaged boat to repairing unit at Kharinashi last week”, said Sahadev Behera of Jamboo.
We  are working round-the-clock to complete the orders, said Harekrushna, who has been working hard to keep the family business floating. Boat making is a seasonal business for which a large number of youths of our families are not preferring to continue with the trade because of which we are not getting young men to take up the trade, he added.

The seaside fishing villages of Kharinashi, Ramanagar, Batighar and Tubi are the hub of boat-making. Special carpenters, experts in boat making, manufactures also receive orders from other districts, said Ramesh Das of Kharinashi.
Over 11,000 fishing boats anchored along Odisha coast were damaged in the strong winds in Fani, said Prasanna Behera, Secretary of Odisha Traditional Fish Workers’ Union.
Joint Director of Fisheries (Coastal) Department, Pratap Ranjan Rout said 6,390 fishing boats were damaged in the cyclone in the State. Odisha Government also announced a compensation of only `9,600 for each damaged boat and `2,600 for each damaged fishing net, he added.