Mangalore: Due to the change in climate and the storms that lashed Mangalore last night destroyed around six anchored fishing boats.
The member of Trawl Boats Union, Shashikumar Bengre said that thedamage was caused due to the pending dredging work which is dangerous even in low tide
The damaged boats are Aishwarya, Deepali, Mahamayi Prasanna, Guliga Prasanna, Jalapanduranga, and Jala Nagini belonging to Madhava Puthran, Omkarnath, Madhava Suvarna, Loknath, Narasimha Shriyan, and Harinath Puthran, respectively.
Water leaked into the engines and diesel tanks of these boats causing huge loss of Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 1 lakh per boat.
Shashikumar said that Mangalore Harbour needs to be extended as soon as possible to avaoid these problems.
He said that, when the Madras Government was there, 2 dredgers used to remove accumulated silt annually, but here the silt has not been removed for nearly 4 years.
He urged the concerned authorities to take note of the issue before the monsoons set damaging more number of boats.