Gopalpur Port to start cargo handling from next year

The proposed all weather Gopalpur Port is expected to start cargo handling from its newly constructed berths from 2013 with construction of three berths - one for coal, one for iron and a multipurpose one. It was declared during a review meeting regarding the progress of the project. This meeting was attended by State Minister for Commerce and Transport Sanjeeb Kumar Sahu, Secretary of the Department Gagan Dhal, director of Ports and Inland Waterways and Transport, Subrat Raut, administrative officials of Ganjam district including Collector Kishen Kumar, Managing Director of Gopalpur Ports Limited (GPL) Mahimananda Mishra, directors of GPL Charchit Mishra and M.M.Moharana. The State Minister and dignitaries visited the construction site of the port. They also visited the breakwaters being constructed for the all weather port. It may be noted that the GPL has constructed one 670-meter-long backwater to the south of the port as well as another 360 meter-long intermediary breakwater.

The state government on this occasion promised to provide land needed for the expansion of the Gopalpur port. "We will provide the required land to Gopalpur Ports Limited (GPL) very soon for the expansion and development of the all weather direct berthing port," said state transport and commerce minister Sanjiv Sahu, after the review. The GPL requires around 783 acres of land for its phase-II and stage-I construction, which is scheduled to be completed by March next year. While around 393.67 acres of land has already been handed over to the GPL, the remaining portion, including 130 acre private land, will be acquired soon. "We hope the land handover process will be completed very soon to pave way for the construction of the port," the minister said. 

State’s second Coast Guard station in Gopalpur by 2012

The coastline in Odisha will have a second Coast Guard centre by 2012 as part of the Central Government's coastal security plan.

Commandant at Coast Guard Paradip District Headquarters Saroj Kumar Sahu said the State's new Coast Guard station would be set up along the Gopalpur coast near Berhampur city. The plan for the Gopalpur station was finalised during the biannual Coast Guard District Commanders' Conference earlier this month in Chennai, he informed.

Commandant Sahu said emphasis is laid on enhancing vigil and surveillance along the Odisha's 480-km coastline. The new station at Gopalpur would no doubt enhance coastal security in the State, he said, adding that it would ease the workload on the Paradip Coast Guard station, which continues to maintain a round-the-clock vigil.

The Coast Guard's agenda aims at thwarting anti-national subversive forces, sea route smuggling and infiltration, he said. In recent years, there have been frequent seizures of deep-sea trawlers, both indigenous and foreign, by the Coast Guard personnel along the coastline.

What has apparently pressed the panic button is the intrusion of foreign vessels at periodic intervals. Fishing vessels from Bangladesh, Thailand and Myanmar have trespassed into the Indian waters on over a dozen occasions during the last two years, said Coast Guard sources. The sources do not rule out the possibility of the terror link of crew members or their nexus with South-East Asian narcotics trade.

Source: The Pioneer