Coastal erosion continues to threaten Pudukuppam coastal hamlet

For the past two weeks, hundreds of families living along the Pudukuppam coast, a coastal hamlet have been facing the brunt of relentless erosion of the coast. The sea has turned rough with large waves lashing the coast, and fishermen from Pudukuppam are finding it extremely difficult to navigate their boats into the sea.

The sea has been inching closer towards the houses and already a substantial portion of the seawall and concrete slabs near the fish mending hall in Pudukuppam have been lost to the advancing sea.

“While strong waves have been lashing the coast for some time, the situation has now turned worse with seawater inching close to habitations and damaging structures along the coastline. Many fishermen have been keeping away from the sea for the past 10 days after a fishing boat ran aground recently.

A significant portion of the coast has already eroded, and the residents are living in constant fear of being displaced by the sea,” said R. Kalaignanam, president of the Moorthikuppam—Pudukuppam Fishermen Cooperative Society.

“The erosion has badly affected our livelihood. The fishing boats, which were earlier docked about 50 metres from the coast, have now been pulled further inshore due to lack of arrangements for berthing boats,” Mr. Kalaignanam said.

Residents claim that the problem of erosion, which has been intense over the past two weeks was primarily due to the construction of a groyne at neighbouring Thazhanguda coastal hamlet in Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu. The construction has disrupted the littoral drift, resulting in rampant erosion and ingression of seawater. Residents hope the government will build groynes to protect their homes and livelihood.

According to Aurofilio Schiavina, a coastal management expert and member of PondyCan, a civil society organisation, “The groynes and seawall built at Thazhanguda have increased the vulnerability of the beaches and reduced their natural resilience. This is a cause for concern. Moreover, the sea was very rough with large swells the whole of last week, which would have caused erosion of the beaches. As the beaches were already “weak” the large waves would have had an impact.”

According to V. Chandrasekhar, president of Bangaru Vaickal Neeradhara Koottamaippu, a water users organisation, “Groynes are not the ideal solution to prevent erosion and what is required are soft measures such as sand bypassing and not hard measures. Beaches north of Puducherry have already eroded because of the Puducherry port. Now, the structure built at Thazhanguda is bound to do the same, causing erosion of sand dunes and ingression of seawater into the coastal aquifers.”

He added, “The Puducherry Government has now revived its proposal for construction of a sea wall and development of fish landing facility at Pudukuppam at a cost of ₹70 crore. The demand for development of the harbour at Pudukuppam is not new since several proposals were earlier abandoned due to the sheer non-viability of the proposal. The Ministry of Environment and Forests had categorically rejected the proposal due to the huge environmental disaster it would cause to the coastline that is north of the Pudukuppam coast.”

According to Mr. Chandrasekhar, any artificial structure protruding into the sea will stop the littoral sand drift and thus will cause erosion to the northern side of the structure, as could be seen in Pudukuppam. The erosion will not only cause destruction of the livelihoods of fishermen in Pudukuppam, Panithittu, and Nallavadu, but will also accelerate the saltwater intrusion and destroy the natural dunes of Manpaet and Panithittu.

According to a report, “Enhancing Coastal Disaster Resilience in Puducherry: An Effective Mitigation Approach’‘ prepared by an expert team of the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), coastal erosion has become one of the most alarming threats in varying pockets along the Puducherry coast. The study revealed that places such as Pillaichavady, Auroville Beach, Pondy Marina Beach, Paradise Beach, Nallavadu, Narambai, and Pudukuppam are erosion hot spots in Puducherry.

“The erosion rate is rising, and if this trend continues, the number of eroding sites along the coast, notably those further north, may increase. The coast is highly vulnerable, and mitigation measures are to be designed for strengthening the resilience of the coastal environment,” the document prepared by NCCR said.

The NCCR, according to an official, “had suggested a hybrid option of integrating grey measures [construction of sea walls, breakwaters, and reefs] for highly eroding coasts. It also suggested green options, which include the development of mangroves, dunes, and vegetation cover. The dune restoration has been suggested in areas such as Nallavadu, Pudukuppam, Mandapathur, Kilinjalmedu, and Karaikal as a long-term coastal protection measure,” the official said.