Kerala - Kochi   

West Kochi residents to wait out monsoon

Anand Haridas

Seawall construction delayed, sacks being distributed Seawall construction delayed, sacks being distributed

WAVE OF DESTRUCTION: Residents along the coast of Kochi are worried, as the construction of seawall has been stopped during monsoon. They have been asked to manage with sand bags. Photo: H.Vibhu

KOCHI: When the sea rises high during monsoons, residents along the Chellanam and West Kochi coast have only sacks of sand to fall back on. The State Government has expressed helplessness, with Dominic Presentation, Minister for Fisheries and Sports and local MLA, repeatedly saying that the construction of seawall will begin only after the monsoon.

According to official records, the construction work of seawall costing about Rs. 1.25 crores has begun and tenders have been issued for more work costing Rs. 1.50 crores. This, however, will only address part of the problem.

A preliminary analysis has put the required work to cost around Rs. 6 crores. "All the fishing gaps are still open to high tide. The sand walls piled up using earthmovers are all washed off during the monsoon," said Kusumam John, Chellanam panchayat president.

For the time being, the district administration is distributing sacks for filling sand and using it as temporary protection against the sea.

"We have distributed about 1.30 lakh sacks in coastal panchayats like Chellanam, Edavanakadu, Njarakkal and Kumbalanghi. Sacks are distributed according to the demand made by the public and we have more sacks ready for distribution," said Joseph M.K., Kochi Tahsildar.

There are complaints that sacks were distributed late. Residents of Chellanam panchayat got their share of sacks last week, well after experiencing the brunt of a harsh monsoon.

"We were promised more than one lakh sacks, but have been given just about 75,000 so far," said Ms. John.

Earlier, there used to be an allowance for filling sacks. This has been stopped for many years and people now have to stay away from work to fill the sacks. This has added to their woes.

The monsoon has already caused enough damage in West Kochi, with Fort Kochi losing one of its prominent public spaces.

The Mahatma Gandhi beach has been completely wiped out this season.

Fishermen along Fort Kochi had mooted different ideas to restore the beach, like constructing breakwaters and using the sand dredged during deepening of the shipping channel.

The Port Trust, however, does not agree. "It is not feasible, as the dredged material is organic matter and not sand. At the most, it could be dried and used in agriculture, but never to make beaches," said Jacob Thomas, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust.

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