Observation made by a couple of professors from IIT-Madras on erosion of beach at a couple of spots along the city should provide a lot of assurance to Vizagites. The professors assured to provide a permanent solution for prevention of erosion in four months.
HoD of Oceanography V. Sunder and another professor S.A. Sanyasi Raju from IIT-Madras, who visited the badly eroded parts of the beach near Kursura Submarine Museum and Gokul Park, said it was a normal occurrence but would become a major problem if preventive steps were not taken. “There is no need to get agitated. Much more damage was witnessed at some places on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala coasts and even highway was affected at some places and we have provided solutions,” Prof. Sunder said.
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Visakhapatnam port was doing beach nourishment and some suggestions would also be made in this regard. A solution would also be provided for beach reclamation. He appreciated the temporary steps taken by the GVMC to arrest the erosion. Geotubes were not totally effective since they have their own problems , he explained.
In Kerala, 380 km out of 500 km coast line was eroded and seawalls were constructed for a length of 70 km to 80 km but seawalls all along a coast was not the solution, Prof. Sunder said. GVMC Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana said a detailed plan would be drawn basing on the report of IIT professors and the discussions the representatives of the GVMC, Visakhapatnam port, NIO and Andhra University will have with scientists of the Central Water Power and Research Institute at Pune on February 19.
Money for taking up the beach erosion control plan would be drawn from Visakhapatnam port, HPCL, Gangavaram port and other organisations and also from the government. Later, the GVMC officials made a power point presentation on the problem and the IIT professors studied the city’s beaches, the area around them and buildings .
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