MUMBAI, July 25: Residents of the fishing village of Satpati may have resigned themselves to the sea's inroads into their land and the washing away of their homes, but why the sea has singled out Satpati for such treatment, and why now, is the question baffling them.Dr V Subramanyan, project advisor in the Earth Sciences department of IIT, Powai, feels the heavily indented coastline to the north of Mumbai lends itself more easily to erosion. ``While it would be far-fetched to link reclamation in Mumbai to what's happening in Satpati, it is likely that this may be linked to development activity on the coast at Mahim-Kelve,'' he explained, adding, ``sea waves are constantly looking for a soft target where they can make inroads, and Satpati with its easy-to-dislodge weathered rocks becomes easy to ingress.''Similar to a water balloon which when pressed on one side distends on the other, the sea also spills over into low-lying areas when the height is raised in the inter-tidal zone due to development. Thepopular Kelve beach has seen the coming up of three resorts in the last three years covering at least 12 km of the coastline. Kelve's sarpanch Nandu Patil echoes Dr Subramanyan's word. ``Yes, it was the around the same time that the village began getting affected by the sea,'' he admits, adding he has written to the state government about this. ``If government cannot believe laypersons like me, it should appoint a panel of experts to study the issue, discover its causes and suggest remedial measures.''Apart from forwarding a proposal for piling up sandbags to protect houses, the district administration has done little. ``We are worried about Gatari Amavasya (August 11) when the worst high tide hits our coast every year,'' said the sarpanch. According to him, the inundating waters had got waist-deep last year. ``All access lanes become paths for waves to flow in, and wherever the paths meet waves break and wreak havoc on walls of houses which are not even facing the sea,'' said Rajaram Atwar Patil who hasrebuilt the wall of his house which collapsed last year, hoping this year the sea doesn't damage his home.Local MLA Manisha Nimkar and Lok Sabha MP Ram Naik had, on a visit to Satpati on April 4, promised that work on erection of a permanent bund to stem the sea will begin within a month. Nothing has happened till date. Nimkar said, ``I can't build the bund myself. If officials refuse to work in spite of following up continuously, what can I do? Now we have the poll code, so nothing can be done.'' Asked how many times she had approached officials, she remarked: ``After all, with government work there's always a delay.''Vasanti Mhatre (30), whose shack is among the 44 endangered ones given a notice by the gram panchayat, said: ``We won't vote during these elections. Why elect leaders who do nothing even as we're becoming homeless?'' ``Unlike Mumbai and the coastline below, where location of creeks helps spend the fury of choppy seas, the northern coast in places like Palghar has very few creeks,'' saidDr Subramanyan, according to whom the exposure to open seas also aggravates the situation.
