Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu has appealed to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to allocate funds in the current Budget for constructing groynes in three hamlets in his Radhapuram Assembly segment and for extension of this structure in another village to save all these hamlets from sea erosion.
In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister on Wednesday, Mr. Appavu said his Radhapuram constituency housed 13 coastal hamlets with more than 10,000 country boat fishermen. Since all these hamlets were facing sea erosion, which was more pronounced between May and January every year, the fishermen’s houses close to the shoreline and the fibreglass country boats anchored on the shore were badly damaged by the heavy tides.
Moreover, the fishermen would not be able to haul their country boats to a safe place away from the shoreline due to the sea erosion.
Hence, the Tamil Nadu government decided to construct groynes in Kooduthaazhai, Thomaiyarpuram and Koottapuli villages and included these proposals in the State Budget for the financial year 2021 – 22. Subsequently, project reports for creating groynes in Kooduthaazhai at a cost of ₹40.70 crore, in Thomaiyarpuram on an outlay of ₹31.20 crore and in Koottapuli at the cost of ₹48.50 crore were submitted.
While the groyne construction at Koottapuli had been completed, the work has been taken up in Kooduthaazhai with ₹15 crore released by the government. Hence, the government should release the remaining ₹25.70 crore to complete the work. Moreover, fund has to be released to start the work for Thomaiyarpuram groyne .
In the meantime, project reports have been submitted for constructing groynes in Idinthakarai (₹45 crore) and Kooththankuzhi (₹52 crore) had been submitted with the government. Hence, the Chief Minister should instruct the officials concerned for allocating funds in this Budget itself for constructing groynes to save the country boat fishermen of Idinthakarai and Kooththankuzhi, Mr. Appavu appealed.
Published - March 21, 2025 07:04 pm IST
