John Wilbert & Rabindranath Biswas
Port Blair, Dec 04: The continual coastal erosion in the Mus village of Car Nicobar Island has become a grave concern for the inhabitants of the island.According to information, the Tribal Council of Car Nicobar apprised the Andaman andNicobar Administration several times of the impending dangers being posed by the massive coastal erosion in the island.
The coastal area of the Island was washed away by the killer Tsunami and whatever land is left in the aftermath of the Tsunami have to be protected, a member of Tribal Council of Car Nicobar said in an alarming tone.
Concerned about the ecological degradation, the Council member said that the fast pace of erosion ravaging the coastline specially the site near Mus Breakwater and the villagers, every crash of the swelling waves on the coastline flashes signal to the destruction of the Island, and the Tribal Council just cannot be a mute witness to it. In fact, the immediate victim of the rapid erosion is the Mus Break water where a jetty is standing alongside it, which is the life line of the Island. The residents of Mus village in Car Nicobar Island are living in trepidation since the day the soil erosion started at the land near the jetty and which has been going on a massive scale for the last 20 years, a resident of Car Nicobar lamented.
During the last visit of the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi to Car Nicobar on 30 Dec.2018, he had declared an amount of Rs.49.00 crore forconstruction of the Sea Wall at Mus. The foundation of the shoreline protection of the Sea Wall was also inaugurated by the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi during his visit to Car Nicobar the very day. However, the construction work of the Sea Wall has not been started due to unknown reasons and which has created a panic among the residents of Mus village, he added.
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma has taken up the issue of soil erosion in Mus village with the ChiefSecretary of Andaman and Nicobar Administration.
Apprising the CS of the point of the soil erosion of Mus Village, the MP said that it is a major issue and there is a long pending demand of construction of a Sea Wall in the coastal area of Mus Village. He requested the Chief Secretary to initiate the work for the protection of the land in Mus village from erosion.
A venerable denizen of the Island said that the administration should deeply studythe sea erosion in the entire Car Nicobar because sea erosion is gradually engulfing the islands, and many parts of the archipelago have been severely affected dueto this sea erosion.
When contacted, Mr. A. Sirsikar, Deputy Chief Engineer of Nicobar ALHW told Andaman Sheekha that the Dept. prepared an estimate and proposal of around 450 meter length of Sea Wall in Mus village, Car Nicobar and since this project involves high budget, he sent it to the Ministry for approval where the project is pending. Once the approval gets a green signal, the work on the proposed Sea Wall will be started, the Deputy CE said.
