KAKINADA: For the last 21 years, the Kakinada-Uppada-Kothapalli Beach Road has been hitting the headlines for a single reason.
Whenever there a depression in the Bay of Bengal or the region hit, even partially, by a cyclone, the road gets damaged, snapping connectivity for residents of 40 villages to the district headquarters.
The singular damage done by Monday’s cyclone ‘Vardah’ to East Godavari district is nothing but a fresh dent to the four-km-long stretch that was re-laid only six months ago.
Of the 16-km road laid by the Roads and Buildings Department in 1982 and improved in 1993, a stretch of 4.1-km has been undergoing repairs time and again since 1995 due to tidal waves hitting the road every time nature vents its fury.
On an average, the stretch of road is relaid twice a year, making a dent to the coffers.
As sea erosion has become a perennial problem in the Uppada region, the R&B officials are reluctant to lay the road along the beach. Instead, they prefer to lay a road through the fishermen hamlets.
The proposal, however, is being opposed by the residents, for they feel that the beach road protects the hamlets.
“The government has not been sincere in protecting the beach road. Though funds are being spent on repairs generously, residents are on tenterhooks whenever there is a rain,” says Dasari Satyanarayana, a fisherman from Subbammapeta, the area where the road gets damaged first.
Amidst much fanfare, the government announced ‘geo-tube technology’ as a permanent solution to the perennial problem and declared the road stretch as a pilot project six years ago. A stretch of 1.5-km road was covered under the project after spending Rs.15 crore. But the project was stopped halfway.
“The problem is not with the technology, but with the commitment. Neither politicians nor officials are sincere in addressing the issue,” says Mr. Satyanarayana, who is also founder-president of the Coastal Rights Protection Committee.
The R&B officials are citing two options — both time consuming — as a permanent solution.
“The road is a part of the Central government’s Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor Development Project. Construction of an over-bridge along the stretch of 4.1-km obviates the need to lay the beach road whenever it is damaged. For protecting the villages, we have sought technical support from the Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, which is studying various options,” C.S.N. Murthy, R&B Superintending Engineer, told The Hindu.
The over-bridge forms part of the second phase of the industrial corridor project and will take at least three years from now to take shape.
