The coming up of sea ports in the district is showing its impact on the mangroves that are spread in parts of the coastal areas of the district. The district, having a vast coastline of 157 km faces severe threat from cyclones and other natural calamities and mangroves form a natural barrier to reduce the intensity of the cyclones, which occur frequently.
According to officials, mangroves extend to about 40 acres in coastal belt and these are found at Krishnapatnam, along the Buckingham canal in Muthukuru mandal, Govindapuram in Kota mandal, Kandaleru creek, Vupputuru in Kavali rural mandal and Ipuru in Chillakuru mandal. The mangroves are reportedly existing since 1950 in the district. However, officials said there is some destruction of mangroves in Krishnapatnam village following the establishment of port and there are also signs of destruction in Govindapuram village with the upcoming Duggarajapatnam port.
According to Venkatagiri forest range officer Challa Sivakumar Reddy, a two-member Central Empowerment Committee (CEC) accompanied by 50 state-level officials from various departments like irrigation, revenue, forestry, roads and buildings last June visited the coast line to study the status of the mangroves felt that there was slight destruction of the natural barrier at Krishnapatnam port due to obstruction to outflow and inflow of water required for the growth of mangrove plants. This, the study found, was due to the construction of berths in the port which led to the stagnation of water.
Gudur forest section officer Prathap Kumar Reddy, who is responsible for mapping the mangrove forest along the coastline, said that casuarina plants and other such varieties are grown in a width of 10 metres to 100 metres in most of the coastal belt in the district. He said that mangrove forests which grow in the salt waters are spreading in Eastern side of the coastal belt due to the creeks in the Bay of Bengal.
He said the forest department is contemplating to conduct awareness camps in the villages over the threat posed to the villages on the coastal belt due to indiscriminate cutting. He, however, said there would be no danger to the mangrove forests with the establishment of power plants in Muthukuru and Chillakuru mandals as they were being established far away from the Bay of Bengal.
Meanwhile, the forest department which got detailed report of the status of the mangrove forests through mapping sent proposals to develop mangroves as Nellore district has been facing severe cyclonic threat for the past several decades.
