Puducherry: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi thanked the Central government and minister of road transport and highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari for sending hi-tech machines of Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) to Puducherry for the work of ambitious beach nourishment project.
Apart from the hi-tech cutter suction dredger, which is already in service, a trailer suction hopper drudger of DCI started operation in Puducherry port on Tuesday to dredge sand at the harbour mouth and deepen the mouth.
This year Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) was chosen for the dredging contract over private contractors on the instructions of the Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi.
“Puducherry getting its pristine NATURE back. Thanks to @nitin_gadkari who sent Dredging Corporation of India to take up the challenge,” Ms Bedi wrote in her twitter account.
This year Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) was chosen for the dredging contract over private contractors on the instructions of the Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi. Puducherry has already given contract to DCI to dredge 3 lakh cubic metre of sand and the excavated sand would be deposited behind the Gandhi Statue in the beach for the beach nourishment project.
The inland cutter suction dredger, Ganga, is dredging a channel of approximately 600 metres long, 100 metres wide and 5 metres deep. The new trailer suction hopper drudger with a capacity of 5,500 cubic meter sand, would spray the dredged sand to the coast, which is known as rainbow dredging, said a senior official in the port department.
Chennai Port and Puducherry govt had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for handling Exim cargo originating from Puducherry port. “Before commencement of cargo movement to the port, the Ariankuppam River mouth had to be made free of sand. The government is planning to commence the operations of the port by the month of June,” he added.
As part of the beach restoration project two submerged reefs would be construed; one near the chief secretariat that will be attached to the shore and another offshore reef opposite Hotel Ajantha at a distance of 200 m from the shore and construction of the reefs had already started.
