Migrants’ return by sea prompts Ganjam to tighten coastal security
Berhampur: The Ganjam administration is planning to take the help of the Coast Guard and marine police to strengthen surveillance of the district’s 55-km-long coastline, after 27 fishermen from the state and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh sailed to Dankuri on the interstate border from Chennai on Monday evening. While 17 of the men are from Andhra, nine are from Pati Sonepur and one from Krushna Prasad.
“We have already asked the SPs of Ganjam and Berhampur to alert marine police staff. We are also going to write to the Coast Guard to keep strict vigil along the Ganjam coast,” collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said on Tuesday.
The fishermen arrived at Dankuri after a journey of about five days on a boat purchased in Chennai, sources said. The men had gone to the Tamil Nadu capital about four months ago to work for a trawler owner, the sources added.
After landing in Dankuri, they were sent to institutional quarantine at Ichhapuram by the Andhra Pradesh government, sub-collector (Berhampur) Shinde Dattatraya Bhausaheb said.
Hundreds of fishermen from Ganjam’s coastal areas are working in the fishing sector in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa, and the authorities fear they might take the sea route home in the absence of any other kind of transport.
“We have already sealed the entry points on the Odisha border. We have installed CCTV cameras along the border and initiated police patrolling to screen people entering Ganjam from neighbouring districts. Now we will take similar measures along the coastline,” said collector.
The district administration has also asked sarpanches of coastal panchayats to keep an eye on the shore.
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