PERNEM: The villagers of Keri in Pernem taluka are worried as their pristine beach is losing ground due to continuous soil erosion and the local economy is also getting affected with an almost 50 per cent drop in tourist footfalls.
The beach, which previously had a thick cover of casuarina trees, is now on the verge of extinction. It used to offer shade and added to the charm of the beach.
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“Due to soil erosion, size of the beach has reduced to a great extent and even though the State government has spent a lot of money in building a protection wall, it is also giving way due to loosening of soil caused by erosion,” locals have pointed out.
Human activity and the spate of cyclones in recent times followed by heavy rainfall have led to the washing away of a large chunk of sand.
“We are left with little options this year as there is hardly any space to erect shacks,” said stakeholders in the tourism-related business in the village.
Locals have also revealed that around 650 meter stretch of gabion wall meant for preventing soil erosion has developed cracks in several areas. Also, due to excessive soil erosion, the tetrapods have got buried inside the sand, which is also damaging the gabion wall.
“Water Resources Department (WRD) had taken up work of installing tetrapods at Keri beach soon after the gabion wall had started collapsing some years back to protect the eroding Keri beach. However due to the heavy rains, these tetrapods are now dismantling and many of them are already buried inside the sand,” a villager said.
