JAGATSINGHPUR: The rough sea has been menacingly inching towards seaside villages in Padmapur panchayat under Erasama block. In the last one week, tidal waves have been washing away parts of Siali beach - one of Jagatsinghpur’s tourist attractions. The 9.6 km-long shoreline has been witnessing sea erosion for the last one decade.
A sea view tourist complex, including a watch tower and rest area was constructed by the local administration for tourists on the beach but today, the sea is just three metres away from it. The complex’s boundary wall has already collapsed. Similar is the plight of the newly constructed Pantha Nivas and houses of fishermen on the coast. However, no steps have been taken by the district administration to counter the impending danger.
Sarpanch of Padmapur panchayat, Keshab Charan Patra, said the sea was 300 metres away from his village five years back. “Now, sea is fast approaching areas with human habitations. Even as engineers had resorted to temporary measures of sand packing to prevent sea erosion in the past, the arrangement is clearly not sufficient,” he said. Villagers of the panchayat are now demanding State Government’s intervention in construction of a sea wall and groynes around the sea beach.
The district administration had brought the issue to the notice of Chief Engineer and Secretary of Water Resources department. On Thursday, a team of experts, led by executive engineer of Mahanadi South Division Bhaskar Das, visited the Siali beach to examine the situation.
Das said of 9.6 km-long shoreline, 500 metres have been severely affected by sea erosion as a portion of the protection wall was damaged by the tidal waves. Sand packing, he said, will be done to curb sea erosion for the time being. The Water Resources department has procured 1,000 big sand bags containing 12 quintals of sand each from Kolkata for packing the Siali beach.