Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jan 9: The allegations stating that the permanent works meant for stalling sea erosion executed at Ullal are of substandard quality. People living near the coastline are jittery as they apprehend that the situation might again become as worse as in the last rainy season.

It has become common practice for leaders of political parties, people's representatives and officials to visit areas devastated by sea erosion, announce compensations and make allegations. In the name of permanent protective walls against sea erosion, boulders were heaped and then they got washed away because of the waves.

The local MLA, determined to find a permanent solution, initiated a programme of constructing berms and breakwater works in the year 2012 with an ADB grant of Rs 26 crore. On a trial basis, cone-shaped tetrapods were fitted at Mogaveerapatna, HIlleria Nagar, Kadappura, Mukacheri etc last year. But the protective wall constructed alongside tetra pods are said to be of poor quality.

The wall itself is zagged. When building the wall, for helping the locals, sand was removed to lay the road. They were not filled as a result of which there are potholes. Water might get accumulated in these pits and endanger the houses. The road is narrow in many places. The protective walls should have been built to a height of ten feet but the current is only about seven to eight feet high. If huge waves lash at them, the protective wall might get swallowed by the sea in a couple of years.

ADB project officer, Gopal Naik, said that even though it might look like cracks wherever the walls have been joined to one another, the work has been executed perfectly and that the contractors have to maintain the same for one year. Hasanabba Kadappura complained that partiality is observed in executing works at Kaiko and Killeria Nagar. The roads here are not of the same width, he stated.