TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

PORTS

PORTS.

With a long coastal strip, the district has quite a few ports which connect it with Bombay and other market centres in the State. In the absence of railways, the ports are regarded as the main arteries of the district. The main ports are: Ratnagiri, Vijaygad, Malvan, Vengurla, Jaygad, Purnagad, Varoda,; Achra, Deogad, Niwati, Jaytapur, Harnai, Borya, Dabhol and Bankot.

The following is a description of these ports:—

Ratnagiri.

Ratnagiri is an open port with an anchorage at a distance of about one mile from it. The sea bed near the port is enturned by huge high rocks which make navigation near the port unsafe. The cargo is unloaded at Rajiwade creek which is at a distance of nearly half a mile from the port. The creek is navigable for country crafts only, due to the layout of a sandy bar at its entrance which makes it risky for bigger ships to enter except at light tide. The passenger steamers anchor at a distance of about a mile from the port.

The port is in charge of the Range Officer of the Central Excise Department. The embarkation and disembarkation of steamer passengers is attended to by representatives of the Bombay Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. or by their paid contractors. The average number of passengers embarking and disembarking in the port per year is 70,656 and 75,726 respectively.

The following is an account of the sources and destinations of imports and exports:—

Imports.—Mangalore tiles from Mangalore, timber from Karwar, cement from Jamnagar, salt from Mora, food-stuffs and sundry goods from Bombay.

Exports.—Mangoes to Bombay, jaggery (imported from the ghats) to Saurashtra, dry fish to Bombay, etc.

The transport for goods, is provided by trucks and bullock carts. The absence of railways, and the fact that the nearest railway station viz. Kolhapur is 82 miles away from the main sea port affect the terms and conditions of trade more adversely than they do in case of other ports in the State which are well-served by a net work of railways.

Vengurla.

Vengurla situated on the western coast is an open port and is exposed to south-west winds. It is connected with the hinterland by the following roads:—(1) Vengurla-Shiroda road, (2) Vengurla-Sawantwadi-Belgaum road and (3) Vengurla-Kudal-Ratnagiri-Malvan road.

There is a regular steamer service between Bombay and Vengurla during fair weather, that is, from September to May. The average number of passengers embarking and disembarking per year is 40,870 and 16,876 respectively.

The Inspector of Customs is in charge of the port. He is mainly responsible for the administration of the customs work. The controlling authority is the Collector of Central Excise, Bombay. Most of the trade, inward as well as outward, takes place with Bombay. Besides, dry fish is exported to Mangalore and iron ores to Japan.

The coastal trade is carried in sailing vessels visiting this port.

The nearest railway station is Belgaum which is at a distance of nearly 80 miles and as such the impact of railways on the traffic is not remarkable.

Malvan.

The Malvan port is situated at a distance of 23 miles from Deogad and 22 miles from Vengurla. Vessels anchor 200 feet away from the shore due to the absence of landing facilities.

Passenger steamers call at this port twice a day during the fair weather, that is, between September and May. The average number of passengers embarked and disembarked at this port is 19,268 and 17,821, respectively.

The commodities imported at this port are; tur dal grains, jowar, rice, wheat, wheat flour, kerosene, sugar, ground-nut, oil-cakes, coconut oil, tea, petrol, betel-nuts, etc. The chief items of export from this port are; cashew-kernels, dry fish, mangoes, bamboos, coir rope, hirda, silica sand, etc.

This port is under the control of the Superintendent, Central Excise and administered by an Inspector of Customs.

Vijayadurg.

The Vijayadurg port is situated midway between Malvan and Ratnagiri at the mouth of the Vijayadurg creek. Its coastal jurisdiction extends six miles towards the north up to the Jaytapur lighthouse. Goods weighing about 200 tons are generally loaded or unloaded at the port daily. The cargo brought by sea is transported by creek up to Kharepatan which is 26 miles up from Vijayadurg.

The controlling authority of this port is Assistant Range Officer.

The chief commodities imported in this port are food-stuffs, pulses, salt, oil-cakes, sugar, cement and dry fish. The chief commodities exported from this port are; mangoes, jungle-wood, hemp, bamboos and cocoanuts.

Food-stuffs and general merchandise are imported from Bombay, salt from Mora and Karanja, tiles from Mangalore and salted fish from Malvan and Karwar. Mangoes, wood and salted fish are sent to Bombay.

The statistics regarding the number of passengers embarked and disembarked at this port for the last five years are given in the table below:—

Jaytapur.

The Jaytapur port is situated in Jaytapur creek, three miles from the mouth of the sea. Besides, Jaytapur also provides landing facilities at Musakaji which is situated at the mouth of the Jaytapur creek at a distance of three miles from Jaytapur. At these two places jetties have been constructed to facilitate landing of goods and passengers. Jaytapur commands a hinterland of the Rajapur taluka and is connected to Rajapur through Musakaji by a Kaccha road 24 miles in length. Privately owned passenger buses ply on this road during the fair weather season.

The port is administered and controlled by the Inspector of Central Excise, who has to supervise the operations of the port, detect cases of smuggling, etc.

The number of passengers embarked and disembarked for five years between 1952 and 1957 is given below:—

The commodities imported in this port are; rice, jowar, salt, sugar, cement, tea, Mangalore tiles and oil-cakes. The commodities exported from this port are; mangoes, bamboos and hemp.

Deogad.

Deogad is a minor port situated at a distance of 23 miles from Malvan towards the north, on the bank of Deogad creek. The creek is navigable up to six miles in the interior in case of sailing vessels having a capacity of about 40 to 50 tons.

A passenger steamer calls at this port twice a day on its up and down voyage during the fair season, anchoring just at the mouth of the creek, about two furlongs from the Customs House.

The port is connected to following places, viz. Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Malvan, Vengurla and Satara through Phonda. The road from Deogad to Phonda is motorable. State Transport buses run on these routes. However, any one compelled to travel in the rainy season has to do so with hardship.

The controlling and inspecting authority of this port is vested in a Supervisor, who is under the control of the Range Officer, Central Excise and Customs, Malvan.

During 1956-57, 24,879, passengers embarked and 24,565 passengers disembarked at this port.

The following are the chief commodities imported in this port; rice, wheat, jowar, cement, salt, tiles, petrol, oil-cakes, sugar and kerosene. The chief commodities exported from this port are; mangoes, salted fish, hemp, fish manure, rice, etc.

Bankot.

Bankot port situated on the west coast is nearly 60 miles from Bombay and nine miles from Shriwardhan.

Shallow waters prevent the anchorage of steamers in this port and as such there are no landing facilities for passengers. There is a regular launch service plying between Bankot and Dasgaon.

The Range Officer is in charge of general administration of the port.

Goods traffic is carried in sailing vessels. Cargo generally includes food-grains, cocoanuts, Mangalore tiles, fire-wood, etc.

Dabhol.

This is one of the few ports on the west coast where steamers from Bombay can come right upto the wharf. This is responsible for a sizeable passenger traffic to and from Bombay.

The wharf is maintained from the landing and wharfage fees fund. The port provides considerable amenities to passengers in the form of waiting rooms, sheds etc. The port is connected either by sea or by road to most of the taluka headquarters in the district.

It is administered and controlled by the Range Officer, Central Excise, Dabhol.

The commodities imported in this port are; rice, coal, wheat, kerosene, cement, tiles, salt and teak wood. The chief exports from this port are; white betel-nuts, jaggery, teak-wood and myrobalans. The main destination of exports is Bombay. In respect of imports of commodities, salt is imported from Uran and Mora in Kolaba district; roofing tiles and ridges from Mangalore and Coondapur, teak-wood from Calicut; and cement from Porbundar.

Harnai.

Harnai is situated at eighteen miles from Dabhol towards north. In the absence of any regular landing facility, the goods are landed from machwa to a toney and from toney to the fore-shore.

It is linked with Bombay by a regular steamer service. The number of passengers embarked and disembarked during 1953 to 1958 is given below:—

The chief commodities imported in this port are; food-grains, pulses, Mangalore tiles, sugar, tea, kerosene, salt and miscellaneous goods. The main articles of exports are; rice, myrobalans, jowar, wheat, dry fish, betel-nuts, etc,

The controlling authority of this port is vested in the Superintendent, Central Excise, Murud.

Other Ports.

The other minor ports are; Achra, Niwati, Jaygad, Varoda Purnagad and Borya.

Achra is a small port situated at a distance of 13 miles from Malvan on the mouth of the Achra creek. Steamers anchor at a considerable distance from the port which has no landing facility.

Niwati is an open sea port exposed to the south-west winds and has no landing facility.

Jaygad is a safe port for the purpose of navigation, where steamers can anchor very close to the sea-shore. At the Purnagad port, steamers have to anchor far away from the sea-shore, as there is a sandy bar at the entrance of this port which makes it inconvenient for navigation. Steamers call at Purnagad and Varoda thrice a week. These ports do not provide any landing facility.

The chief articles imported in the ports enumerated above are; Mangalore tiles from Mangalore; cement from Jamnagar and Porbundar; salt from Mora and Karanja; oils from Bombay; dry fish from Kolaba district; and wheat, jowar, pulses, etc. from Bombay.

The chief articles exported from these ports are; mangoes, myrobalans, bamboos, cocoanuts, silica sand, fish manure, dry fish, etc.

The description of ports detailed above brings out the essential drawbacks of the coastal transport system of the district. Though gifted with numerous ports, the district suffers heavily due to the lack of proper and adequate anchorage, landing facilities, etc. This situation is further aggravated by a lack of co-ordination in the road transport system. It is only now that development plans for providing better coastal facilities and road communications to the district are in the offing and that a prosperous economy based on a well-knit system of transport and communications can be forecasted.

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