Tirupati: Pulicat sea mouth opening likely to be delayed

Tirupati: The efforts of Tirupati MP Dr M Gurumoorthy in getting approvals from the Central government for opening of sea mouth into Pulicat Lake at Rayadaruvu of Vakadu mandal may take some more time to succeed. Responding to his earlier letter, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal has made it clear that they are yet to receive the proposals from the state government.

He said that the ministry was committed to provide all assistance for the restoration of Pulicat Lake ecosystem under the Coastal community development pillar of the Sagarmala programme. However, the MP was saying that the proposals were already sent and requested the state government to submit the proposals.

However, the MP maintained that the Commissioner of Fisheries of the government of AP has submitted the proposals along with the detailed project report (DPR) to the ministry in April 2022 itself. He also said that the matter will be taken up to the notice of the minister Sonowal personally soon.

It may be recalled that, proposals were submitted to the government for sanction of Rs 128.80 crores funds under Sagarmala for opening of sea mouth into Pulicat lake. This will ensure availability of abundant fish in the brackish water lake near Sullurpeta of Tirupati district. It will help in resolving the travails of nearly 20,000 fishermen besides finding a solution to the perennial conflict between the fishermen of AP and Tamil Nadu.

Though the sea mouths opened wide due to the impact of Tsunami in 2004, the unusual sand accumulations made the sea mouths narrowed down completely in 2008 as there is no flow of fresh water into the Lake and the mouths were closed with silt. The issue has been complicated since then.

Though the committee constituted by the CWC on the issue has submitted its report in 2017 itself, no sanction has been made in this regard. MP Gurumoorthy has been pursuing the matter for the last six months and met the central ministers on many occasions. He even visited the Lake earlier and mentioned the issue in the Parliament. He expressed hope that the steps will be taken to start the works soon by getting the approvals from the ministry.