Invasion by sea

No other maritime state in India has quite the same problem as Kerala does. The state has a very heavy monsoon, a steep foreshore, mud banks, vast sheets of backwaters, 44 rivers draining out to the sea and the heaviest density of population along the coastal belts. It8217;s the combination of these factors that has accentuated the ill-effects of sea erosion in these parts.

Come the monsoon and the human settlements and vegetation along the coast are devoured by the turbulent sea waters. The stategovernment has responded to this tragedy in its customary knee-jerk fashion. Sea walls are constructed, existing walls are repaired, and affected families evacuated to nearby school buildings and offered free rations for a few days. This annual monsoon ritual is repeated year after year. No effort is made to address the problem in its entirety, no effort is made to find a lasting solution to it.

Out of Kerala8217;s coastline of 560 km, at least 440 km are found to be highly vulnerable to sea erosion. Sea walls have been constructed over a length of 350 km, of which 125 km of walls are badly in need of repair and renovation. Another 210 km of coastline is left unprotected. The magnitude of the costs involved in coastal protection can be gauged from the fact that the construction of a sea wall costs around Rs 1.5 crore per km and renovating existing walls costs Rs 1 crore per km.

Scientists have, time and again, warned that sea erosion on the coasts of Kerala is so severe that if timely remedial measures arenot taken, the state may not only lose substantial portions of its land to the sea, existing constructions along the coastline could be destroyed.

Unfortunately, neither the state nor the Centre has woken up to the gravity of the situation.

There is no regular budgetary support from either the state or Central government for coastal protection measures. A number of government agencies such as the Irrigation Department, Ministry of Water Resources, Beach Erosion Directorate, Central Water Commission and Central Water and Power Research Station are now involved in activities relating to coastal protection, but there is no co-ordination among them, either with respect to the sharing of technology or the utilisation of funds.

The state government has drawn up a Rs 307-crore project 8212; entitled Protection of Kerala Coast 8212; which envisages the construction of 86 km of sea wall and the repair of another 37.44 km. But the state government is totally dependent on the Centre for the funds required for this.Until 1983-84, the Centre used to meet two-thirds of the cost of such construction. This was later reduced to 50 per cent. After 1992, however, no Central assistance worth the name has been forthcoming.

The ministry of water resources has earmarked Rs 12 crore for coastal protection measures in the Ninth Plan, of which Kerala8217;s share is Rs 5 crore. A matching contribution is to be made by the state government concerned. But with the Ninth Plan itself having become a non-starter, the promised funds are yet to be released by the ministry. This has had repercussions down the line. A unit of the Beach Erosion Directorate opened in Kochi is virtually idling for want of funds to carry out its research and development activities.

Meanwhile, scientists have questioned the utility of sea walls as a shield against sea erosion. The experience of Kerala has been that sea walls, unable to bear the onslaught of the turbulent sea, have collapsed in many vulnerable areas within a short period of their construction at acolossal cost. In many places the very purpose of such structures is defeated as tidal waves overshoot the walls and create pools of water behind them.

Sea walls can also aggravate soil erosion. For instance, the gaps of 200 to 300 meters width that are left open along these sea walls 8212; to accommodate the fishermen8217;s country craft which can berth only on soil 8212; actually serve to abet rather than prevent coastal erosion.

Moreover, such construction activity has become synonymous with corruption as it is difficult to effectively monitor how much money has gone into it.

Other maritime countries like Japan and Netherlands have perfected modern technologies to check coastal erosion. They include the creation of offshore breakwater barriers or mud banks, artificial soil nourishment, use of geo-synthetic nets as filters and the planting of certain distinct species of trees capable of checking soil erosion along the coasts.

India seems to be lagging behind in this crucial activity and no efforts have beenmade to experiment with some of the new technologies of soil erosion that are available. The Beach Erosion Directorate BED has proposed a Rs 150 crore project for experimenting with these technologies in Indian coasts with the co-operation of various institutions concerned with oceanography. But the Centre has yet to respond to the proposal, according to M. Sivadas, director of BED.

Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, had plans to try out an off-shore breakwater scheme on a two km coastal stretch between Perinjanam and Koolimattom in Thrissur district. But financial constraints have ensured that the proposal has been kept in abeyance.

The Central government has stipulated that an area extending to 500 m from the high-tide line should be left free of construction and preserved as a buffer zone8217;. The Irrigation Department too has prohibited construction activities within 30 links from the sea. But these stipulations are hardly enforceable in a state like Kerala, with the highest density ofpopulation in the country.

It8217;s high time that the governments, both at the national and state levels, showed a little more sensitivity to the plight of the people living in these ecologically fragile areas, and set apart enough funds to protect their land and their existence. Today they face a death sentence from the very force that they have long regarded their greatest resource 8212; the sea.