KENDRAPARA: Odisha coast is facing severe erosion due to climate change, construction of sea walls and denudation of mangrove forests, said Dr Kakani Nageswara Rao, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geo-Engineering, Andhra University.
Speaking at a workshop on climate change in the Bay of Bengal, organised by Earth Journalism Network here on Saturday, Rao opposed the construction of 600-metre geo-synthetic sea wall at the seaside Pentha village in Kendrapara district at a cost of Rs 39 crore.
The state government had built Odisha’s first geo-filter tube sea wall at the seaside village three years back to protect it from the onslaught of the sea without consulting environmentalists and scientists.
“The Pentha beach is permanently lost due to construction of the sea wall,” he said.
The professor said the governments of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu had constructed sea walls in the past but they did not prevent the ingress of sea during tsunami.
“The sea started crawling menacingly towards Satabhaya area of Kendrapara district after the construction of Paradip port in 1960s,” he said.