More than 200 m long and 10 m wide beach got eroded and over 100 coconut trees were swept away with the raging waves of the Arabian Sea within the incomplete outer fisheries harbour of Maravanthe fishing village in Udupi district on Saturday.
Ever since the outer fishing harbour project began about six years ago, the fisheries village of Maravanthe has been hit by frequent erosion with fishermen blaming unscientifically erected breakwaters of the project as the sole reason. Before they recovered from the washing away of the fishing road last monsoon that was reconstructed later, the erosion has only become intensified, they said.
Fishermen leaders Mohan Kharvi and Karunakar Kharvi said though the erosion started about four days back with the advancement in monsoon, none bothered to care for the fishermen who were living under constant threat. Neither the elected representatives nor the district administration have bothered to address their woes, they said.
Beach property that got eroded on Saturday belonged to Chandraguptha Kharvi, Nagaraja Kharvi and the Vilayathi Family in the fishing village, who lost over 30 odd yielding coconut trees too. During the week, over 100 trees were swept away, fishermen said.
If no immediate steps were taken by the authorities, fisheries road, the lifeline of the fishing village, was certain to get eroded. Further erosion was bound to affect houses of several fishermen, the Kharvis said.
