Ernakulam: As rainfall in the state intensified, the seawaters have taken over more area of the Chellanam beach. Whenever there is heavy rainfall the seawall is being breached and taken over by the sea. The seawall was a project that was hailed as a great achievement of the government. The people of Chellanam were promised that after the first phase of the construction, they would be safe.
However, the government has not taken any initiatives for the second phase of the seawall construction and it is pending.
The government project of constructing a seawall using tetrapod cost Rs.344 crores. The government claimed that the people were now safe just after the completion of the first phase. However, when the rainfall intensified the people living in the area where the seawall is not constructed are facing hardships.
Chellanam panchayat has 17 km of coastline. In that, seawall is constructed only for 7 km. The construction on the rest of the area will be completed in the second phase. Till then, sacks filled with sand and geo bags were used as temporary relief. When the sea began to get rough this temporary wall was breached and seawater began enter. The area between Kannamali and Manacherri is facing the brunt of the sea.
The people of Chellanam are now moving to safer areas after water began entering their homes.
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