KOCHI: In early March last year, residents of Thanthonni Thuruth received a piece of news that offered relief for an issue they had been battling for decades — the construction of an outer bund.
While work on the three-metre-wide bund — envisaged to encircle the island in order to prevent tidal waters from flooding the area — approved by the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) began a few months ago, it has since lagged, leaving the residents with faded hopes.
The 110-acre island, just a stone’s throw away from the skyscrapers of mainland Kochi has been ‘drowning’ in misery for decades now. The island gets flooded knee-deep two to three times a day during high tide, leaving the over 60 families residing there to the mercy of saline water that ruins their houses and endangers their health.
Ernakulam MLA T J Vinod said work on the first-phase of the `6.5-crore is under way with half of the piling for the structure completed close to where people live on the island.
“Other work too is progressing. We are yet to receive funds for the second phase. Once that happens, we expect to complete the project within the next three months,” Vinod said.
At the same time, a year after being granted approval, work has been taken up for only around 290m of the 600-m-long bund. Thanthonni Thuruth residents, who had been fighting for their right to a safe livelihood, are disappointed at the apathy of the authorities.
“The work, which began only a few months ago, has been halted for over a month now. It had been slow right from the beginning and only the west side has shown some progress,” said Ambass T P, a resident of the island.
“The pace of work clearly shows the negligence on the part of the authorities to the struggles of the poor islanders. Without bringing about a solution, another year has passed just like that,” he complained.
Many people have already moved out of the island because of the unlivable conditions there, he added.
Tidal flooding is only one of the severe issues faced by the residents of Thanthonni Thuruth, which lacks proper transportation and healthcare facilities. The islanders, including schoolchildren and patients, depend on the not-too-frequent government ferry service to get to the mainland.