‘Over 25 lakh sqm Gujarat beaches eroded’: Historic Dandi beach, Shivrajpur beach figures in Rajya Sabha report

The historic Dandi Beach in South Gujarat where Mahatma Gandhi broke the Salt Tax law has seen 69,000 square metres of beach area getting eroded by the rising sea levels. Similar erosion is being witnessed at Tithal Beach (69,000 square metres) in Valsad and Suvali Beach (6.88 lakh square metres), located about 20 kilometres from Surat.

In the nearby Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, the Ghoghla Beach in Diu located in Saurashtra has seen 13,000 square metres of beach area getting eroded. “The coastal erosion does impact coastal communities residing in the erosion-prone areas, including fishermen communities. The study by NCCR reveals that the shoreline changes are the combined effect of natural and human activities and the receding coastline will cause loss of land and habitat and the livelihood of fishermen in terms of losing the space for parking boats, mending nets and fishing operations,” the reply added.

In a separate set of data tabled by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, over 537.5 kilometres of sea coast in Gujarat is witnessing erosion, which is the highest in the country in terms of affected area. Gujarat has a coastal distance of 1,945.6 km of which 27.6 per cent is facing erosion as per NCCR, Chennai data. In Daman and Diu, the erosion is 34.6 per cent of coastline.

In West Bengal, 60.5 per cent or 323 kilometres of the state’s coastline is facing erosion. Similarly, 46 per cent of coast (275 km) of Kerala, 42.7 per cent of coastline of Tamil Nadu (423 km) and 56.2 per cent costline of Puducherry (23 km) are facing erosion.

The Congress party in Gujarat on Monday highlighted the erosion happening on the state’s coast. “It seems the Centre is not worried about erosion happening in the state. The institutes that do research on erosion are being opened in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. But Gujarat, which has the longest coastline, has no such centre. It seems both the Gujarat government and the Centre are doing little to stop the erosion of the coastline,” said Parthivrajsinh Kathavadia, Congress spokesperson.

It is not just beaches in Gujarat which are at the risk of rising sea levels. ‘The Gujarat State Action Plan on Climate Change’ prepared by the climate change department in 2021 states that the rising sea levels have put the ports in the state at risk. “The studies show that 45.67 per cent of Gujarat-coast is under the high to very high risk category. The coastal regions under very high risk category are along the northwestern parts of Gulf of Khambhat, northern-most parts of Gulf of Kutch and western parts of Kutch coast. Both major and minor ports along Gujarat’s coastline are highly at risk due to rising sea levels,” it added, while naming 19 ports including Kandla, Mundra and Pipavav ports.