Beach lovers are in for a pleasant surprise with significant improvement in the shoreline near the INS Kursura Submarine Museum.
Thanks to the annual beach nourishment project taken by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust, the Dredging Corporation of India deployed its dredger near the museum to pump sand from the ‘Sand Trap’ built near the Dolphin’s Nose Hill at the severely eroded beachfront for nearly a month.
The beachfront, which had eroded in the past several months, is now quite healthy with the widening of the sand area.
Pleasant experience
“It’s really a pleasant experience to spend sometime playing with the sand near the submarine area. We wish the replenishment of the eroded beaches will be a continuous mission,” Raasi Sharma, tourist from Bhubaneswar said.
VPT spent ₹16 crore on this year’s beach nourishment project, which it has been undertaking regularly since the construction of Outer Harbour in 1970s. The port discontinued the rainbow method of nourishment following criticism by international experts. Now through a pipeline the sand of nearly 20,000 truck loads of sand was collected and filled at the eroded beach.
“We are very happy with the response. As part of our commitment, we will continue the annual nourishment project,” VPT Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu told The Hindu. He said they had collected nearly three lakh cubic metres of sand, double the quantity than the sand used for nourishment last year.
A senior official of DCI said using their expertise they had completed the project efficiently. DCI also has the ability to create beaches and islands.
Following beach nourishment project, an island came up near the RK Beach a few years ago attracting a large number of visitors.
With beach erosion becoming a matter of serious concern in the past few years due to massive construction on beach road between Visakhapatnam and Bheemunipatnam, a committee was set up under the chairmanship of Mr. Krishna Babu by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to find out solutions to arrest erosion.
The erosion came to such a pass that it led to breaching of road near the fishing harbour and caving in of sidewalk road near the submarine museum a few years ago.
The government had engaged Deltares, Netherlands-based independent body, which had recommended permanent measures like laying underwater dykes and erecting geo-synthetic mesh.
