Kerala: Quarry ban puts coasts in danger

KOLLAM: The ban on quarrying in the district has adversely affected the construction of breakwaters and protection walls putting the lives of coastal people  at risk. The sea walls constructed using rock boulders and concrete slabs have been protecting the coast from natural calamities to a certain extent. “The quarries should be given special licences to supply rock for the construction of protective walls along the coast.  Otherwise, the people will be in serious trouble,” Mr Subhash Kalavara, president, seawall and break water workers’ union, told this newspaper.

An expert team from Chennai IIT had recommended that small breakwaters having a length of 35 metres into the sea  with a gap of 100 metres  between them could prevent sea wrath. It was also estimated that around 105 breakwaters would suffice to protect the coast along Thanni to Azheekkal in the district. The areas of Eravipuram, Thanni, Kakkathoppe, Sakthik-ulangara and Azheekkal experience high sea erosion in coastal Kollam. The project was implemented on an experimental basis at Azheekkal which could prevent  huge waves from gnawing away the shore. 

“The administration had given tender to construct  26 breakwaters along Eravipuram, Thanni and Kakkathoppe areas, and the works are yet to be finished except four of them,” Mr. Subhash added. The attempt by the major irrigation department to prevent sea wrath by installing sand barriers in Thanni, Kakkathoppe  and Papanasam coast in Mundakkal was  a failure.  The loosely-knit bags filled with sand could not withstand the sea fury. Similar is the case of sand bags installed in areas, including Vandanam, Meenootmukk and Madhavapuram in Alappuzha, he alleged. The council including the district administration and mining and geology department has sanctioned the functioning of  only two out of a total of 102 quarries in the district, that too for crushing operations.