The family members of a house in Kotaveedhi had a close call when a part of the concrete slab on its first floor collapsed due to the impact of underwater rock blasting by a firm engaged by Visakhapatnam Port Trust for deepening the entry channel. Fortunately, the family members were in another room at that time, and none was injured.
The residents of Kotaveedhi have been bearing with the tremors associated with the high-intensity blasting process undertaken by Dharti Dredging and Infrastructure, a firm engaged by Visakhapatnam Port Trust, to dredge and remove rock strata at the channels turning circle and LPG inner jetty in the inner harbour, for the last six months.
“We have represented the issue to the Chief Engineer of VPT and Dharti officials, and they promised to take up controlled blasting. But it is not happening. We have been experiencing the tremors for the last six months, and now over the last 15 days it has reached its peak, as the work is in progress just opposite the Kotaveedhi colony,” said Md. Alikhan a resident.
Kotaveedhi is the oldest colony in the city and many of the buildings here are decades old. The residents fear that if the blasting continues, many of the buildings will come down and there may be injuries and even loss of life.
The VPT is in the process of increasing the depth of the channel to 14.5 metres, to enable Panamax vessels to enter the inner harbour. And since rock strata was detected at the turning circle and LPG jetty, blasting is being employed to clear them.
Sources in VPT said that it might take 30 more days for the blasting process to be completed, and this has become a major cause of worry for the residents and they are on tenterhooks all through day and night.
“We do not know when a building will come down, as they shudder violently with every blast. And in a day there are at least two or three such high-intensity blasts. It is nightmare for us all along,” said Md. Rasool, a resident.
