MANGALORE : Sea erosion is a grave problem which people living along the shoreline face every monsoon. In fact the problem of sea erosion has a history of around 20 to 25 years. Though sea erosion is a recurrent problem along the around 300 km long coastline from Mangalore to Karwar, a permanent solution to the problem has remained merely on paper so far.
No sooner monsoon sets in, the problem of sea erosion recurs. There is damage to houses, property, people are shifted, then comes assurance of compensation from the government as well as the promise to find some permanent solution to the problem. Boulders are dumped on the shores and by the time all this happens, monsoon would have come to an end. The problem is once again reminded only when monsoon sets in again the next year.
Sea erosion which initially was not acute and used to engulf just a couple of trees has now been alarming enough. People living along the shoreline spend sleepless nights during monsoons.
In Dakshina Kannada, the areas that are commonly affected by sea erosion are Ullal, Bengre, Someshwar, Khilariyanagar, Kaiko, Kotepura, Mogaveerapatna, Uchila, Kaup, Katapady, Padukere, Kodibengre, Gopadi, Beejadi, Maravanthe, Gangolli, Byndoor and Bhatkal, Tadadi, Belekeri and other areas in Uttara Kannada district.
On most of the occasions, the government has only pretended having considered the problem seriously.
Though a so called permanent sea wall was constructed along 12 km of shoreline in DK and 19 km of shoreline in Udupi district, everything has gone down the drain. When this project proved a waste, the idea that flashed in the minds of our politicians was foreign technology.
A team led by a minister had even been on a France tour to study the French technology of raising sea walls.
The government had even given scope for several studies to find a permanent solution to the problem. But so far, the various governments that ruled the state neither had the time nor the patience to go through the study reports.
Even the suggestion made by the CWPRS experts from Pune to raise permanent sea walls has been of no use.
The minor irrigation department had in the year 1997 put forth a Rs 575 crore proposal to raise sea walls which also was of no use. Even though a sum of Rs 230 crore was later on released for the DB project of constructing brake water, even that project has not been implemented. In most of the case, the funds released have gone into the pockets of the contractors.
There have been even instances when the bill was for 10 lorry loads of boulders though just one lorry load of boulders were dumped on the shores.
There is even a shortage of the boulders required for the construction of sea walls in the district.
Though private quarry owners can supply these boulders, they are unwilling due to the inordinate delay in release of funds from the government.
The exact reason for the sea erosion is not yet known and still remains a mystery. Though several foreign nations have adopted some novel technology to prevent sea erosion, all these technologies have their own limitations.
Even construction of sea walls without an in-depth study of the shore line may not be useful. What is needed is will power and determination on the part of the elected representatives to solve this problem instead of merely rushing to the affected areas to gain publicity.
Related news:
