District in-charge Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake said on Saturday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had agreed to release Rs. 10 crore to undertake emergency measures to prevent sea erosion across three coastal districts.
Addressing presspersons after inspecting areas affected by sea erosion here, Mr. Sorake said the a proposal seeking funds had been submitted by the Minister for Ports and Inland Waterways Baburao Chinchansoor.
Priority would be given to strengthening sea wall with stone boulders in areas facing severe sea erosion in the three districts. In Udupi district, these temporary sea walls would be set up in Kodi, Yermal, and Padukere.
Mr. Sorake said the State Government was already implementing a Rs. 911 crore project financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a permanent solution to the sea erosion. Rs. 192 crore has already been released and the first phase of the project had been taken up at Ullal near Mangalore, Mr. Sorake said.
Earlier, T.S. Rathod, Executive Engineer of the Department of Ports and Fisheries, told presspersons that the Rs. 911 ADB funded project for providing a permanent solution to sea erosion would take eight years to be completed.
The ADB-funded project would be taken up in three tranches – Ullal (in tranche 1), Padukere, Marvanthe and Mavinakurve (in tranche 2), and Devbagh and other areas (in tranche 3).