Raging waves swallow massive sand and rock walls; Batpady under threat again

Area near Kerala border had remained cut off for almost eight months after the connecting road was washed away

A house very close to the groyen under the threat of being washed away as sea erosion intensifies at Uchchila near Mangaluru on Monday.

Residents of Batpady to the south of Mangaluru on the Karnataka-Kerala border are again worried over being cut off from the main land as the raging waves of the Arabian Sea have been swallowing sand and boulder walls erected to prevent sea erosion.

With crores of rupees spent on erection of these walls wasted, a portion of the rebuilt road has also come under threat of getting eroded this monsoon. The same stretch was completely damaged last monsoon too and the residents had to wait till February this year for the road to be temporarily restored.

The Ports and Inland Waterways Department had then erected a massive sand wall for more than one km from Uchchila till Batpady end-point sourcing sand from dredging Netravathi-Phalguni river mouth near the Mangaluru Old Port.

“Then itself, I had told the authorities that all of these would get washed away once the rains start and my words have become true today,” said Batpady Abdullah, a resident of the area. “The department has erected 10 horizontal groyens into the sea from Uchchila till Batpady, leaving a few hundred metres being covered till Kerala border. I had asked them to construct three more groyens till Kerala border for protecting the eroding beachfront, but in vain,” Mr. Abdullah said.

When The Hindu visited Uchchila-Batpady on Monday, the beachfront covered by the groyens appeared to be safe to some extent following beach rejuvenation. However, a few stretches were again eroded even as one house was in danger of being pulled away by the raging waves. Similarly, the entire stretch of the beach that does not have groyens and where massive sand wall was erected, was getting severely eroded.

The department had claimed that two off-shore reefs built about 300 metres away from the beach inside the sea as well as the 10 groyens would prevent further beach erosion. However, the same have failed to prevent erosion at the first instance of the monsoon.

Looking at the dwindling sand wall near his residence, Usman, a resident, said the temporary road too would get washed away in a day or two.