Visakhapatnam: The Pudimandaka fishing village in Atchyutapuram mandal in the district would get an Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) soon with the fisheries department identifying suitable land for the project.The government has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the centre, which will be similar to a cyclone or tsunami warning centre.The state government has been setting up around 16 centres through the fisheries department which would be located close to the coast in order to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities by addressing the existing gaps in dissemination of warning of cyclones and others. These centres would be set lup under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP).The EWDS comprises satellite-based mobile data voice terminals (SBMDVT), digital mobile radio and other equipment. Pudimadaka was selected for this centre as the village has around 800 boats of all kinds and more than 3,000 fishermen generally venture into the sea for fishing.“Initially, we planned to set up at a fishing harbour in Vizag. But later we thought Pudimadaka was the proper place. We have a common facility building there and we started works, but the people objected it and asked us to set up the centre at other place,” the fisheries assistant director B Lakshmana Rao said.Sources said officials had verified Pudimadaka, Kadapalem, Kondapalem and Jaalaripalem areas for the EWDS centre. Now, two places were identified by the fisheries department, tehsildar Ravi Kumar and others. L&T has been acting as technical expert for the project. They would ascertain the technical feasibility of the project.But the official in the fisheries department are now in a dilemma as to who will bear the budget of its maintenance, the systems and who will maintain them. ‘We have not received any clarity over it. The centre would send loud voice alerts along the coast till a certain distance. The centre would be useful for coastal communities, but we need to get clarity over the sharing the responsibilities of its functioning and maintenance,” said an official of the department on the condition of anonymity.

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