THOOTHUKUDI: Connecting the Vembar fishing harbour and the Valasamudrapuram beach is a kilometre-long road, running alongside the coast. It is the primary route that the fishermen from Vembar use to reach a government fuel station, where they purchase subsidised diesel.
The road also connects them with a Coastal Security Group (CSG) police station, a few other residential colonies, and several villages.
In a short span of two weeks, the entire one-kilometre stretch of the road has fallen prey to coastal erosion, as giant waves have been breaking the shore, ebbing away, alongside eroding the road little by little.
The Vembar fishermen appealed the district administration to take immediate steps to prevent the erosion, claiming that further delay would lead to coastal flooding, damaging residential areas and the fishing hamlets.
'Groyne misalignment led to erosion'
Sources said that in 2017, a Rs 14.2-crore-worth groyne structures, covering a total length of 870 metres, was built along the beach. Based on a study conducted by a team of experts from Pune, the three groyne structures -- 170-metre, 200-metre and 500-metre-long -- were constructed to counter the ferociousness of the waves.
The fishermen blamed the improper alignment of the groynes for the increasing coastal erosion along Vembar. The groynes, shaped as straight lines rather than arcs, does not prevent the formation of high waves, they claimed. Antony Gunasekaran, a fisherman, urged the State government to take immediate steps to carry out a study, on behalf of the Anna University or the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, to rectify the 'erroneous' structure of the groynes.
In 2014, similar structures were built at the nearby Keela Vaipar and Sipikulam beaches at Rs 11.75 crore each, and recently those fishermen also have been complaining about coastal erosion.
Vilathikulam MLA Chinnapan, who visited the Vembar beach, has allocated Rs 11 lakh for the repair works. Chinnapan told TNIE that the fund could be used for stacking sandbags along the shoreline.
"Also, Rs 14 lakh has been allocated for restoration works at the Keela Vaipar beach," he added. Chinnapan said that the sea has been advancing on the other side of the groyne built in both the beaches, whereas, it has receded in the Sipikulam beach.
Further, he had petitioned Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to take steps to initiate a study by the experts of Indian Institute of Technology, in developing a permanent remedy.