KENDRAPARA: A portion of the geo-synthetic tube wall, installed along the coast off Pentha village here to combat sea erosion, was gutted under mysterious circumstances on Thursday night.
Executive Engineer (saline embankment), Aul Division Purnachandra Rath said some miscreants might have set afire around 30 gabion boxes of the wall. Fire personnel have doused the fire. “Following the mishap, we held deliberations with the district administration and police regarding safety of the geo-tubes,” he said.
Pune-based Garaware Ropes Limited had fixed the geo-synthetic tubes at Pentha in 2016. “We have already informed the officials of the company to rebuild the gabion boxes,” Rath said. During cyclone Titli, a portion of the geo-tube was washed away and the company had repaired it. Last year too, miscreants had set afire some gabion boxes of the sea wall.
Former chairman of Rajnagar block Jagabandhu Nayak said hundreds of tourists visit Pentha and nearby mangrove forests every day. It is high time the Government set up a police outpost at Pentha for safety of tourists and the sea wall.
The State Government had built the 600-metre geo-synthetic tube wall under Integrated Coastal Zone Management programme four years back at a cost of `39 crore to protect Pentha and nearby areas from high waves, cyclones and tsunami.