KOCHI: With the monsoons setting in, Laisa Jinson - mother of two young boys - spends sleepless nights listening to the roar of the sea and the waves crashing relentlessly against the stone wall just six metres away from their home. Her sons Edwin, 14, and Edgar, 15, sleep in peace blissfully able to forget the horrors the raging sea will wreak on their lives, in case the wall is breached.
The threat is real and palpable. Along with Laisa, every resident of North Chellanam, a village home to nearly 100 families living along the seafront, lives in constant fear for their lives and livelihoods. With the roaring waves breaking hardly a few metres away from their homes, apprehensions of a turbulent pre-monsoon sea smashing into their homes are founded on terrifying experiences they have been through in the past.
"Children especially stay in constant fear during the monsoons, when the sea becomes rough. One day, before going to bed, my son Edgar asked me whether we will survive for another day. They have seen the horrors of Ockhi and the floods. With the sea raging just outside these walls, how do we assure him safety?" laments Laisa.
While a new project for seawall repairs using geotubes was announced with much fanfare, the installation work in Chellanam has reached nowhere. Fearing the sea's fury, residents have intensified their protests demanding early completion of repairs and the construction of a seawall. According to panchayat officials, the seawall needs to be constructed on the coastline along Vachakkal, Alingal, Velankanni Bazaar and Cheriyakadavu.
Meanwhile, despite warnings from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) regarding the impending onset of monsoons, the Chellanam grama panchayat has chosen to ignore the larger threat and has completed only the usual procedures of cleaning canals and repairing them for the flow of water.
Dredging for sand
A team of experts from the company undertaking the work on geotubes had arrived from Delhi on Tuesday to inspect the functioning of the new dredger, which has been sub-contracted for the job. "We will dredge the harbour, and the sand will be brought by road on trucks to fill the geotubes," said Emil Jose, area manager.
However, according to Fr John Kandathiparambil who has been at the forefront of the movement seeking help for the residents, the entire project is thoroughly muddled at present. "One geotube, which measures 25 metres in length and five metres in diameter, can be filled to its capacity in a reasonable timeframe, only with the help of a 180 hp dredger. The contractors were supposed to fill the tubes with sand procured elsewhere. A dredger below 180hp employed now will not serve our purpose", he said.
No dearth of excuses
The unavailability of sand to fill the geotubes has been cited as an excuse for the delay in completion of the work. Contractor Mohammed Niyas said earlier unavailability of compact sand was the reason for the delay. "We have been instructed to mine the sand from the seabed, but tests conducted using a vibrocorer have revealed only two metres of sand is available at the sea-bed. We need around 60,000 cubic metres of sand to fill all the tubes. Due to the dumping of dredging slurry, the availability of sand in the sea-bed along the Chellanam coastline has gone down substantially. The sea bed here is now full of silt and clay," he told Express.
Raging sea at their doorsteps
Kochi: The district administration has promised construction of the much-awaited 1,150 metre-long seawall along the Chellanam coast, and the residents are hopeful. "An expert team from Chennai has visited, and the government is made aware of the threat we are facing here. Each high-level visit from the authorities ends with promises and assurances to take adequate precautions, but no results have been seen so far. The stone walls are not safe anymore," said Antony Kuttapassery, a 64-year-old. "Rs 8.60 crore has been spent on the geotubes, and work on only 150 metres of the wall has been completed.
We were born and raised here. As we have lived here all our lives, we are not ready to leave our homes and livelihoods. During my childhood, I have heard my father say he used to travel 4 km to reach the sea. Today, the waves break just four metres away from our home," said Ravi Kumar, a social worker and resident of Chellanam. The West Kochi Coast Protection Council (WKCPC) and Kerala Latin Catholic Association are also gearing up for protests in support of the hapless residents of Chellanam.
"Sand is available aplenty, and dredging of canals is being done in many areas. Serious glitches at the department level are, however, creating all these problems. We fisherfolk live each day in fear of losing lives, both at sea and here, in our homes. With the onset of monsoons, we will not be able to go to sea once the warning is given by the Meteorological Department."
Louis, fisherman and resident of Chellanam.