On a beach trail

The magnificent Marina and the carnival-like Bessie beach are vital city landmarks. But there are other picture-post-card-worthy beauties dotting the Chennai coast. Author lists five of them

May 17, 2016 05:57 pm | Updated 06:05 pm IST

Thiruvottiyur beach. Photo: S. S. Kumar

Thiruvottiyur beach. Photo: S. S. Kumar

Thiruvottiyur

On highway 114, cross Pattinathar Samadhi, take a U-turn, park in the open space, and negotiate the sharp boulders — you’ll be rewarded with a lovely patch of sand and small waves. This is Thiruvottiyur Beach. Once a large beach, it spread across the highway and the houses on the landside, but lost its sand to the movement of ocean currents. When the sea began to destroy coastal homes, boulders were dumped along the coast and into the bay, creating a series of arm-like walls. A calmed sea receded to give back a kilometre-long beach, a generous gift of Nature. The villain now is liquid sewage sent gushing into the sea-cleaned sand. “Can you stop this?” ask four kids digging for crabs. We hope the Corporation will.

Thiruvalluvar beach

Thiruvalluvar

This small beach is an outstanding example of what can be achieved when determined local residents and a committed councillor (Usha Kumar) get together. The three approach lanes to the beach have boom barriers that let in only residents. Food vendors and amusement facilities are barred from entering the narrow walkway and the sand. Sea-grape trees, tolerant of salt, line the sides of the walkway, the wall on the landside has anti-litter notices, and a police booth with a clock-tower actively keeps swimmers and those who litter at bay. The result is a beach to be proud of — it’s clean and walker-friendly. Managed by locals with loving care, Thiruvalluvar beach is unencroached, despite the urbanisation all around.

Neelankarai beach

Neelankarai

You reach Neelankarai beach, at the end of the Beach Main Road, through Kapaleeswarar Nagar. This is a wonderful example of how a beach gone wrong can have its beauty restored. The indifference of its residents meant dumping of garbage, and setting up of eateries and even a cricket pitch! When ‘beautification’ proposals included an art gallery, tennis court, sports zone, play area and mast lights, residents such as Supraja Dharini of Tree Foundation and Dr. TD Babu and Kamakshi Subramaniam of Spark put up stiff resistance. No lights, no roads, they said; this is Olive Ridley country. Councillor Munuswamy joined hands with the locals to remove encroachments and build bio-toilets. Now, the vast swathe of sand is broken only by a building to quarantine sea creatures. The lights are still there, but much has been achieved to keep the beach free of interference.

Palavakkam beach. Photo: R. Ravindran

Palavakkam

Drive through AG’s Colony and you’ll see sand everywhere — a clear hint of how vast the beach is. It is still an open beach as far as you can see, with just a kiosk selling vadais and a couple of buildings on the CRZ. A road parallel to the sea separates the sand, and the markings on the empty ground on the landside tell stories of water extraction by tankers not very long ago. Fresh, sweet water so close to the sea.

Only a network of sand dunes could have arrested the march of salinity inwards. Alas, a lot of it has been levelled to facilitate construction, and the day is not far off when this will affect the ground water. But, now, word about what people have done to conserve other beaches has reached here, so it’s possible there will be resistance to encroachments. The beach sports a pristine, raw look that must escape ‘beautification’ attempts.

Uthandi beach

Uthandi

Turn into Seventh Avenue at Uthandi off ECR and you can pretty much drive to the waterfront. Someone has found profitable use for construction debris and has built a road, flouting all rules. Walk on the beautiful shore beyond the nets and you’ll find nearly two grounds of sand built up with debris.

On this seashore, rubble is realty. This would have been beautiful once, but some have converted sand to solid ground, and others have dumped waste nearby. This beach cries for survival, and needs to be attended to, immediately.

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