Rs 1 crore fish landing centre goes waste at Anchuthengu

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A fish landing centre built at a cost Rs 1 crore at Anchuthengu has started collapsing during high tides just five months after its commissioning. It was too close to the sea. The centre was constructed under the supervision of Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation despite opposition from the local community.

“During the construction stage of the building in November itself, the sea was just 5 metres away from the building. It is well known that the sea comes around 25 metres inside land during monsoon. So there was opposition to the project but it was overlooked,” said Robert Panipilla, chief coordinator of the NGO, Friends of Marine Life (FML).

Ironically, local residents are not given permission to build houses 50 metres near the High tide line. However, this logic wasn’t applied to the fish landing centre. “We have a state-of-the-art cold storage system inside that building. We are trying to disassemble it and move it to a safe spot,” said Anchuthengu panchayat vice-president Yesudasan Stephen who blamed the past ruling council.

“Minister K. Babu who came to inaugurate the project in February, announced during the ceremony itself that he won’t be responsible for any damages here as this was constructed as per the whims of then ruling council,” he added. The FML has demanded that responsible officers should be booked for this violation. The facility at Anchuthengu was among 22 such facilities that the government was constructing all over the state. Out of this, the capital was to get eight fish landing centres where fish can be stored and sold by auction.