Alappuzha: Groin fields delay hits coastal life

Alappuzha: The people of the coastal areas in the district will have to wait longer to get redemption from the frequent sea erosion that threatens their lives.

A project to lay groin fields to prevent sea erosion  in Alappuzha, Amba-lappuzha and Haripad constituencies has not made much progress. Groin fields are structures built out into the water from a shore to prevent sea erosion or to trap and accumulate sand that would otherwise drift away under the influence of waves.

The district administration had decided in July to invite tenders to construct groin fields using `150 crore approved by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).  But the bidding has not reached anywhere.

On the basis of the report prepared by the irrigation department, an expert team had visited the erosion-hit areas in the district. The project had received administrative sanction also.

K.P. Haran Babu, chief engineer, irrigation depar-tment, said the tender date will end by August 29. If there are not enough pre-qualification bidders, there will be more delays, he said.

In Ambalappuzha constituency alone, some 134 families remain homeless for the last one decade due to sea erosion. They live in various relief camps and rented houses. The coastal shores continue to shrink due to absence of sea walls.

According to studies, the Arattupuzha village, which was one of the worst-hit by the tsunami in 2004, has lost almost half of its land due to sea erosion in the last 100 years.

The residents here have started leaving their houses during the monsoon fearing tidal waves. Many have migrated to the nearby villages of Muthu-kulam and Kandaloor.

Sanakan, a resident of Arattupuzha, said that the people at Nellanickal and Perumbally had been demanding a sea wall for long.

“Though a few breakwaters were constructed, they were getting destroyed due to lack of maintenance. Places like Pathiyankara, Panoor and Pallana too are exposed to the sea waves,”he said.

Sreerag, 35, a driver from Neerkunnam in Ambalappuzha constituency, lives in a rented house as his house was washed away by tidal waves in 2011.

“The land has been shrinking year after year and our house was taken away by the waves,”he said.

At least 25 groin fields, which were laid by the IIT Chennai since 2007 along Kerala coastline, have been protecting the coastal land.

Dr V. Sundar, professor, department of ocean engineering, IIT-Chennai, who headed the project, told Deccan Chronicle that groin fields were performing well.

“The number of closely-spaced groins, christened as ‘groin field,’ will bring down the sediments along the coast as they are trapped in between the gaps,” he said.