KENDRAPARA: A portion of the geo-synthetic tube wall installed along the coast off Pentha village to combat sea erosion was damaged after being reportedly set afire by miscreants on Thursday night.
Assistant engineer of saline embankment division in Aul Nityananda Malla said it is suspected that some miscreants set fire to around 25 gabion boxes on the geo-tube wall, which had been packed with stones to protect the beach from the marching sea.
Malla said fire services personnel have doused the blaze. Following the incident, discussions were held with the district administration and police regarding safety of the geo-tubes. Pune-based Garaware rope limited company had built the geo-synthetic tubes at Pentha in 2016. “We have already informed the officials of the company to rebuild the gutted gabion boxes,” he said.
Notably, a portion of the geo-synthetic tube wall at Pentha was washed away due to the impact of cyclone Montha last year. Malla said the pounding sea waves had gnawed away portions of the wall and threatened to topple the tubes. To protect the geo-tubes, a seafront armoury stone protection barrier was built at a cost of Rs 4.1 crore two years back, he said.
“Earlier, the scientists of IIT-Chennai had suggested that casuarina trees be planted in front of the geo-tubes to save the wall from tidal waves. But due to lack of space on the beach, we shelved the plan and built the stone protection barrier,” Malla added.
Around 10 years back, the state government had built the 600-metre-long geo-tube wall to protect the seaside Pentha village and nearby areas from high waves, cyclones and tsunamis under its Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) programme. It was the state’s first geo-synthetic tube wall project and completed at a cost of Rs 39 crore with the technical support of the scientist from IIT Madras.