Visakhapatnam: Fishing harbour a den for illegal activities

Visakhapatnam: The fishing harbour in Visakhapatnam is turning into a hub for illegal activities.

Apart from becoming a den for people drinking alcohol and toddy, incidences of theft are increasing in the harbour, especially during nights.

The fishermen say that their attempts to lodge complaints with the police are yielding no result.

Workers in the harbour say that some local gangs have been threatening people with knives during nights, demanding money while some are looting fish from the boats that dock at the harbour at night.

The boat owners demand the police control the menace of drunkards within the premises, pointing to the numerous empty liquor bottles and discarded playing cards lying around.

“There are several issues in the fishing harbour. At night, many of the boats turn into pubs. However, no one is bothered about it. This can only stop if the police does rounds of the harbour at night. There have been incidents of gangs looting the people by threatening them with knives and some times, the day’s catch of fish goes missing. We want the police to take action,” said Ch. Guruvulu a vendor in the fishing harbour.

Visakha Dolphin Boat Operators Welfare Association vice-president Gangaraju said, “There is a need to set up lights and CCTV cameras. It is a fact that several thefts are coming to light. The lack of security has led to gangs looting people.”

Visakhapatnam I-Town inspector Umakanth said that no one has lodged a complaint regarding the said irregularities.

He said that the police is alert and on the job, safeguarding the areas in it limits of the police station.

However, another official on condition of anonymity said that the fishermen themselves have formed gangs and their target their rivals. “They lodge a complaint and later withdraw it saying that the people they accuse are known to them. This has happened several times. Anyhow, the department will not tolerate such things,” he said.