Pulicat fishermen get local boat servicing facility
Outboard motor workshop (OBM) and a boat yard in Kottaikuppam has been set up for fisherman
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-08 06:38 GMT
Chennai: There was a time when close to 500 fishermen, hailing from 35 fishing villages, near Pazhaverkadu in Tiruvallur district, had to cover large distances to get their boats serviced. But, with the setting up of an outboard motor workshop (OBM) and a boat yard in Kottaikuppam, the fishermen can now heave a sigh of relief. Residents of Pazhaverkadu, or Pulicat, one of the regions affected by the 2004 Tsunami, owe much of their livelihood to fishing.
In the aftermath of the disaster, a post-tsunami sustainable livelihoods programme, assisted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), was launched to help rebuild their lives.
One of the projects financed was OBM workshop and the boat yard. Set up at a cost of ' 48 lakh in two months, the facility has been functioning for the past one month since when it was opened by Kanayo Nwanze, president, IFAD, and Vikram Kapur, Chennai corporation commissioner and project director.