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Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 23

The beaches off Visakhapatnam coast are under grave threat due to erosion and it is the bounden duty of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust and the Gangavaram Port Company to take appropriate containment measures, according to the Forum for Better Visakha.

In a letter to the GVMC Commissioner, Mr Meena, the forum co-ordinator and the former IAS official, Mr E.A.S. Sarma, has said that of late reports are pouring in about the seawater cutting into coastline near Ramakrishna beach and the consequent damage to the beach.

Since the construction of the inner harbour in 1933 and the outer harbour in 1976, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) has been scooping out sand from the sand traps near the port and nourishing the beach near Ramakrishna Mission to contain erosion at an annual cost of Rs 10 crore, says the letter.

A similar problem is building up in the vicinity of Gangavaram port. “Dredging and construction work are going on at breakneck speed at the Gangavaram port and the port is being constructed by a private consortium, which may not be as responsible as the public sector Visakhapatnam port. Therefore, the GVMC and the Vizag Port Trust should undertake that task, collecting the money from the private consortium,” Mr Sarma has suggested in the letter.

He says that Yarada and other villages are under grave threat due to the construction and dredging at Gangavaram port. “It is unfortunate that the State Government has chosen to exclude the Gangavaram port area from the purview of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation. Not only does it mean loss of substantial revenue to the GVMC, but it gives the corporation no control over the private sector port to address such problems,” he said.

He has urged the State Government to correct the mistake.

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