Edavanakkad residents serve ultimatum to authorities demanding lasting solution to sea incursion
Theera Samrakshana Samithi, a collective of residents of Edavanakkad panchayat, has served an ultimatum to the authorities demanding a lasting solution to their woes caused by invading tidal waves, failing which they have threatened to embark on a more intensified and indefinite protest from July 5.
The decision was taken after a meeting of panchayat officials led by president Aseena Abdul Salam and Samithi chairman Sunil Kumar K.R. with District Collector N.S.K. Umesh on the persisting sea incursion, on Friday. The Samithi called off the day-long hartal in the panchayat as a mark of respect to the Collector’s assurance to find a solution to the problem by taking up the matter with the Revenue Minister at a meeting scheduled for July 4.
Financial constraints facing the State government have emerged as a stumbling block to finding a permanent solution to the problem that had worsened over the last couple of days following which the Samithi blocked the State Highway on Thursday and called a hartal on Friday.
“The district administration could only offer temporary solutions like a geotextile bag-based seawall and widening and deepening of canals for water to drain out. But this is likely to make little difference,” said V.K. Iqbal, panchayat vice president.
Mr. Kumar said the allocation of ₹46 lakh for geotextile bag-based seawall was likely to meet the same fate of a similar geotextile bag seawall set up at a cost of ₹48 lakh in 2022-23. Since then, the marauding waves had hurled the geotextile bags into nearby waterbodies, where they remained deposited, he said.
“We have demanded tetrapods and breakwaters along the coast using the allocation. But we were told that making tetrapods would take time. Our demand to at least maintain the existing seawall was also turned down citing shortage of granite,” he added.
Residents alleged that the seawall, which had not been maintained in the past 20 years, was missing on many stretches along the shore, leaving families in the vicinity vulnerable to the vagaries of the ocean. The situation is especially worse in Wards 1, 9 and 13, affecting around 1,200 families, according to the Samithi.
“We had to hit the streets after it became impossible to live in our own households,” said Mr. Kumar who was scathing in his attack of local MLA K.N. Unnikrishnan who he alleged had not bothered to visit the panchayat since the situation worsened.
Shortly after getting elected as MLA, Mr. Unnikrishnan during a visit to the panchayat had promised to maintain the seawall and repair the road. But, nothing had happened more than three-and-a-half-years since that promise, he said. Mr. Unnikrishnan could not be be reached for his response on the matter.
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