Sea incursion: coastal population lay siege to Fort Kochi-Alapuzha State Highway

The coastal population in Ernakulam district are yet again up in arms over the ever-worsening sea incursion with hundreds, including the elderly, laying siege to the Fort Kochi-Alapuzha coastal State Highway along the Kannamaly coast throwing traffic completely out of gear through the area since July 5

The coastal population in Ernakulam district are yet again up in arms over the ever-worsening sea incursion with hundreds, including the elderly, laying siege to the Fort Kochi-Alapuzha coastal State Highway along the Kannamaly coast throwing traffic completely out of gear through the area since Friday around 6 a.m.

The siege is being organised under the aegis of the Chellanam-Kochi Janakeeya Vedhi, which is in the forefront of the protest across the entire coastal region of the district demanding a lasting solution to the problem. The latest bout of protest come close on the heels of a similar blockade of the Vypeen-Munambam State Highway by the residents of Edavanakkad, another coastal village, over the same issue on June 27.

“We have not set a time for ending the protest. We will not move off the road unless the minister from Ernakulam P. Rajeeve, Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine or the chief minister himself intervenes and assure a permanent solution,” said V.T. Sebastian, convener of the Janakeeya Vedhi.

The government had granted administrative sanction in 2021 for the construction of 10-km granite and tetrapod walls up to CMS Bridge. Six sea groynes near Velankanni and nine near Puthenthode-Kannamaly were also part of the work. The government, through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), sanctioned ₹344.2 crore for the work.

However, only 7.36 km of work had been completed so far. Besides, there is a claim that the amount sanctioned for the work has been exhausted after completing the 7.36-km wall and erecting six sea groynes.

“The half-baked work has only worsened the problem further with even those houses, which were not previously affected are getting inundated even in relatively small waves. With drains filled to the brim and canals encroached there is no outlet for the invading water from the populated areas. A walk through the coast in Kannamaly will reveal how houses are damaged, deposited with mud and are being increasingly abandoned by the owners,” said Joyce Babu, a resident of Kannamaly who moved into her ancestral home on higher grounds more than a month ago owing to sea incursion.

Increasingly more people are moving out of their homes for rent owing to the persisting problem. She recollected how the area was unaffected two decades back when her family brought the land in Kannamaly. The protest didn’t happen overnight but the residents were pushed into it after authorities continuously turned a blind eye to their sufferings, said Ms. Babu.