Govt asked to submit plans to fight sea erosion in coastal areas

According to him, for the past 15 years, the construction and repair of the sea wall along the coast from Chellanam to Fort Kochi remains in limbo.
Jinson Velutha-mannukal, along with his family members, filling sacks with sand to barricade the gates and windows to prevent sea water from entering their house at Chellanam
Jinson Velutha-mannukal, along with his family members, filling sacks with sand to barricade the gates and windows to prevent sea water from entering their house at Chellanam

KOCHI: With successive governments failing to come up with a lasting solution to the sea erosion and all their pleas falling on deaf ears, people of Chellanam had recently approached the High Court seeking help. Hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which was filed by Care Chellanam Forum, the vacation bench of the HC directed the state government to make its plans to mitigate the problem known by May 19. 

“The HC has directed the state government to submit its reply regarding the points highlighted in the PIL,” said Jinson Veluthamannukal, member of Care Chellanam. He said that the forum decided to file the petition after the state government failed to come up with plans or projects to safeguard the coast from sea erosion. 

According to him, for the past 15 years, the construction and repair of the sea wall along the coast from Chellanam to Fort Kochi remains in limbo.“You might recall the huge damage Cyclone Ockhi wreaked on Chellanam in 2017. The sea wall was completely damaged in the cyclone,” he said. The present situation is thus that there is no sea wall in many areas including Chellanam measuring up to 5 km, he added. According to the forum, due to the absence of the sea wall, the coming monsoon will be a big issue for the residents of Chellanam and also the coastal areas in the district.

“The residents will not be able to handle the damages the rough sea might wreak,” said the forum. According to Jinson, though the government had allocated a total of `26 crore first for geotubes in 2018 and then for a granite sea wall in 2020, nothing materialised. 

“Every year, that is till last year, a farce of an exercise to lay sandbags as a temporary means of protection used to be undertaken. However, they provided no protection,” he added. “Hence, we urged in our petition the need to build proper sea wall using granite and also the importance of installing groyne. We also urged the importance of looking into the feasibility of other scientific methods to prevent sea erosion,” said Jinson. 

The petition also pointed out the suggestions made in the study submitted by an NGO called Kadal. “It was suggested that based on the studies, a fund for the coastline protection needs to be set aside,” added Jinson. 

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