Chellanam resident makes ‘Chellploids’ to construct seawall
KOCHI: Sea erosion has been a bane for the residents of Chellanam since the coming of Cochin Harbour. The intensity of erosion has grown manifold over the past few years. Even as the government has been trying out innovative methods to tackle sea erosion using geotubes and geobags, nothing has been working in a foolproof manner.
“However, every one kilometre of the seawall constructed using traditional groynes comes to around `4 lakh as per government calculations. This is not economically viable,” said Antoji K J, an inventor and a Chellanam native. According to him, a sea wall is the only solution. “So this set me thinking.
I did an extensive amount of research work,” said Antoji, who is a pre-degree pass out and a trained in electronics. “My research brought me close to publications that said how sea walls constructed using stones weighing more than 1,000 kg can’t be dislodged by rough sea,” he said. But the stones used to construct the sea walls in the state only weigh 400 kg and also are not cut to fit each other, he added.
“So, I came up with a prototype which was a cross between a cube and a sphere,” said the inventor, whose some other inventions had caught the attention of the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). Antoji’s groynes, aptly named ‘Chellploids’, have been identified by NIF as an alternative to the traditional stones. “They understood the importance of the structure and have offered to take it up with the Central Government,” he said.
Antoji’s Chellploids are cost-effective. “The total cost of constructing each kilometre of the sea wall is just `20,000. Imagine the amount of money that the government will be able to save,” he said. Another feature is that it weighs 2 tonnes. “Also, its unique shape makes it easy to cement two ploids together and form a strong wall that won’t budge even when battered by fierce waves,” said Antoji.