A man was sitting wearily under a makeshift tent selling caps, sun hats, shorts and swim wear a few yards away from the shoreline, right on the beach at Rushikonda here on Thursday.
The kutcha road, formed parallel to the beach about a decade ago, has been partially washed away by the waves and some of the electric poles have fallen to the ground. This was the result of slow but steady erosion of sand due to sea surge during the past two months.
“It’s only during the last two days that the water has started receding. The waves reached up to the basement of the police watch tower a few days ago. I have been doing business here for the past 20 years but never saw erosion of this magnitude,” said Appanna who gave up fishing after finding that it was not all that lucrative.
“I first started selling ‘muri mixture’ and later switched over to selling beach wear here. Tourists, who visit this beach regularly, wonder as to what happened to the silver sandy beach. We are finding it difficult to answer the same queries again and again,” he said.
Unprecedented
“We have never seen such erosion even during tsunami or cyclone Hudhud last year. Though the erosion was gradual, this is the first time that the water has damaged the road and uprooted electric poles,” said Subrahmanyeswara Rao, who operates a merry-go-round at Rushikonda.
“In the past, tourists used to come and spend the day at the beach. Now they are leaving in no time as they find the beach no longer attractive as there is no place to relax,” he said.
“Our shops used to be on the other side of the kutcha road but now we have moved to this side of the eroded road. The lone stall that is surviving on the beach side is also on the edge and may have to be moved sooner or later,” said Ramana, who sells shell toys.
“The flow of tourists decreased and petty vendors on the beach have been badly hit,” said Community Guard Ramana.
Sand erosion has robbed Rushikonda Beach of its charm and it could take quite some time for the beach to regain its silver sands.
Tourist flow to the hot destination comes down following sand erosion
