Residents of the Chellanam-Kochi coastal segment observed a fast on the occasion of Republic Day on January 26 demanding a permanent solution to the destruction to life and property owing to the continuing threat of sea erosion.
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Hundreds of residents, including women and elderly attended the protest that began at 10 a.m under the banner of Chellanam-Kochi Janakeeya Vedhi. The collective of people had been staging a long agitation demanding a permanent coastal protection project.
Though the authorities had set up a tetrapod wall along the seven-km segment of Chellanam coast up to Puthenthody, the remaining segment towards the north including Kannamaly, Cheriyakadavu, Kandakadavu, Manassery and Saudi continue to bear the brunt of sea erosion as the stretch lacked a proper and scientific method to check the problem, they said.
The residents blamed the authorities for not initiating concrete steps to protect the shoreline towards the northern part of the Chellanam panchayat. They recalled that the sea ingress in the northern areas had worsened after tetrapods were installed along the seven-km stretch from Chellanam harbour to Puthenthodu. The campaign undertaken by the government that it had resolved the problem of sea erosion in Chellanam was misleading as the sea erosion had a severe impact from Kannamaly to Saudi, they alleged.
The coastal residents stated that the dredging by the Cochin Port Trust had increased the depth of the offshore waters, leading to a spike in incidents of sea erosion. It had also resulted in the destruction of temporary measures like seawalls or breakwaters in the affected areas, they said.