Nellore: Tenders invited for fish landing centre

Nellore: The district administration had started the process of inviting tenders for the construction much-awaited fish landing centre proposed at Isakapalli Palem seacoast.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs.2.30 crore and the state government had recently sanctioned Rs.1.50 crore for construction of the centre at Isakapalli Palem in Allur mandal. The funds would be utilised for constructing a long platform, auction hall, peeling centre, boat anchoring facility, guard room, and a compound wall.

According to officials, there are 349 fish landing points in the entire state of Andhra Pradesh in which 75 are located in Nellore district. They are located in Iskapalli, Utukukuru, Mypadu, Pathapalem, Upputeru close to Krishnapatnam, Tamminpatnam, Arcotpalem, Kothapatnam, Kondur, Dugarajapatnam, and Pulinjerikuppam in the district.

The state government had sanctioned fish landing centres in Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam and Nellore districts. There are 12 coastal Mandals from Kavali to Tada in the district where more than 100 fishermen villages with about 1.98 lakh people from fishermen community are residing.

Officials said around 16,213 fishermen are depending on fishing for their livelihood. Usually,

fishermen catch around 150 -170 tonnes of fish products from the sea during normal days. They put 90-100 tonnes of fish for sale to the local traders. They also store fish for trading activity. A senior official from the fisheries department said that the R&B department is planning for construction of the Fish Landing Centre at Isakapalli Palem coast.