Boat building yard to come up near Rameswaram

Fishermen from Rameswaram and its surrounding areas, who go deep into sea for their catch, say they constantly face the threat of being arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy. 

In order to help them with a better catch, the Central Government had proposed to offer deep sea fishing vessels at a subsidised cost to the fishermen. Accordingly, the Central Government would provide 50 per cent compensation, state government and financial institutions will provide 20 per cent compensation each, while the fishermen had to bear 10 per cent costs of the boat. 

As proposed, the construction of first set of boats commenced in Kochi shipyard. 

Chinese shipping companies had also reportedly approached the fishermen to construct boats for them. 

However, for the first time the government with the help of a private company had decided to set up a boat building yard in Rameswaram to construct the boats. 

Uma Ship Builder and Repairs Private Limited from Tharangambadi was selected to construct the boat building yard. The company will undertake the construction of ten boats, which they are set to complete in nine months. Following this, the firm is expected to take up building a further 15 boats