CHINNAGOLLAPALEM (KRISHNA DT): They were confident till recently that they were in a safe haven, aloof from the hustle bustle of the mainland. But the people of this sleepy village abutting the Bay of Bengal are now anxiously watching the sea, which is slowly but steadily surging towards their village.

The relief that the tsunami did not harm them proved to be a temporary one as the residents of Chinnagollapalem village are now watching the long-term impact of the monstrous waves that almost ripped apart the barrier - a huge landmass that used to act as a natural barrier between the sea and village - turning the village into a vulnerable area. The sea mouth was a few hundred metres away barely a few months ago, but a visitor to this village in the Kruttivennu mandal of the Krishna district can now see the waves hitting the village borders.

Alarming proportions

Soil erosion due to the impact of the waves has assumed alarming proportions, removing the land mass as well as uprooting the trees along the coast and throwing the village into peril.

The advancement of the sea is so rapid that a portion of the land abutting the village facing the seaside with coconut and other plantations has been flooded with knee-deep water.

The villagers, who were hitherto never worried about the cyclone alerts or tsunami warnings, are now perturbed whenever they hear about some quake or tsunami-related news over the television.

People concerned

They are, however, prepared to face the challenge, but are not prepared to leave the village.

"We have been here from generations and we cannot leave our houses and belongings fearing a natural calamity," says Gudapati Ramakrishna, a resident of the village.

More than the possibility of another giant tidal wave - either in the form of a tsunami or a cyclone - hitting their village, the residents are worried about access to the mainland.

"There is no road connectivity to the village and we have to entirely depend on either the manually operated boats or the launches in case of any emergency," says T. Suryaprakash Rao, a teacher at the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan School in the village.

Several representations for construction of a bridge for accessing the mainland have been made, but in vain.

Though the Government entrusted the construction of a bridge connecting a couple of islands with the mainland, the work remained incomplete owing to "technical reasons" while the locals view them to be more "political" in nature.

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