VISAKHAPATNAM: THE erosion of the Rushikonda Beach reached the police watchtower and the vendors were forced to shift their shops. As more people visit the beach, more deaths due to drowning are reported, especially during weekends, huge boulders were placed at some distance from the sea to prevent people from entering the waters as a precautionary measure.
Though the erosion washed away the beauty of the beach, the tourist flow in the evenings and weekends has not declined. Despite preventive measures, the visitors who come from various places cross the boulders and gambole in the waters ignoring the high tides. Now, the visitors are shifting to a location where the sea is calm. “We have been instructed not to allow visitors to go into waters, but they try to convince us saying that they had come from distant places to see the beach and get into waters,” said the marine police of Rushikonda Beach. According to VSN Murthy, the principal scientist in-charge of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), regional centre, “Boulders are just to arrest the waves from further eroding the beach and movement of the sand. Observations are being done by taking the previous erosion reports and examining how the recent erosion is different.” “We are taking samples every week to see if there is any further change in control of erosion after placing the boulders. This is a continuous process till October but according to our observation now, there is a slight control of waves. In fact, construction of protection wall has to be done in the middle of the beach but that will be in future,” he added.
According to the studies made by the NIO scientists, preventive measures like the dredging made in the RK Beach during the International Fleet Review, impacted the waves to take a longer diversion affecting the Rushikonda Beach and measures which will be taken at Rushikonda may divert waves to Bheemunipatnam beach. “That’s what everybody is worried about. The diversion of erosion from one area to another is common but what we are now planning is to take permanent measures to control it,” said Murthy. “In our observations with the samples taken at the RK Beach, the long distance waves travelling from southern Bay of Bengal have more dominant role on the erosion than the local waves. We are making studies if the same waves are having an impact on Rushikonda waves as well,” he added.