The Fort Kochi-Chellanam Janakiya Vedi, which is demanding comprehensive measures to prevent sea erosion, welcomed the State Budget setting aside ₹100 crore for a coastal protection package for the entire State.
The Coastal Package, as described by the Budget document, said that ₹100 crore was being set aside as an initial measure. The money is to be utilised to meet the threat of sea erosion in different segments of Kerala coast by establishing geotube offshore breakwaters.
Though there is no specific mention of Chellanam, which had borne the brunt of recent sea erosion events, the Janakiya Vedi said that the Budget proposal could be considered a pilot programme because geotextile tube groynes could help provide relief from sea erosion.
V.T. Sebastian, convener of the Janakiya Vedi, said that geotube sand barriers under water could last a long time. “If these bags are exposed to sunlight, they deteriorate rapidly,” he added.
He pointed out that the government announced the new pilot programme after spending ₹470 crore in building tetrapod wall and a walkway over them along a portion of the Chellanam coast. “The tetrapod walls have so fare withstood the onslaught of rough seas,” he added.
At the same, the Janakiya Vedhi is of the opinion that measures to decrease the depth of the sea close to the shore alone can find a lasting solution to sea erosion, which continues to be a grave threat even now. “Depositing the sand and other material dredged from the shipping channel by the Cochin Port Authority can be dumped close to the Chellanam shore to help beach accretion,” the Jankaiya Vedhi said..
Mr. Sebastian pointed out that a recent study by the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos) had shown that sea surge events were increasing and Chellanam was a vulnerable spot. The Kufos study spanning 2012 to 2023 recorded 684 sea surge events along the 600-km coastline.
The tetrapod wall has been completed along 7.36 km of the segment between Chellanam Fishing Harbour and Puthenthode. Along with the tetrapod wall, six sea groynes too have been erected. The proposal in 2021 was to build the wall along the 12-km segment and erect 15 sea groynes.
The Janakiya Vedhi is determined to drive home its claim that eviction of people or their rehabilitation will not help prevent sea erosion. “It is only proper coast protection measures that can be a permanent solution,” it said.
