Sea erosion affecting lives of fishermen, Kerala govt doing nothing to contain it: Congress' VD Satheesan

Ernakulam (Kerala) [India], July 6 (ANI): The Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, on Saturday, accused the Left government in the State of doing nothing to contain sea erosion, which is affecting the lives and livelihoods of the fishing communities in the state.

"During the monsoon and all other seasons, aggressive sea erosion is happening in the state. So many houses have been lost and people are in trouble," Satheesan told ANI at Edavanakad coastal village in Ernakulam, where several homes are affected due to sea erosion.

Congress MP Hibi Eden accompanied Satheesan during the latter's visit to the village. 

"There are no roads as they are washed away. People who can't live there, especially poor fishermen, are facing issues as they are struggling to make ends meet. Their only livelihood is fishing; they are leaving the place. Unfortunately, the government isn't doing anything," Satheesan said.

The Congress leader alleged that the state government had made numerous promises to the people living in the coastal area but all of them remain only on paper.

"The state government has to protect the coastal areas from sea erosion. The Kerala Fisheries Minister has given so many promises to the people living in the coastal area but nothing has happened. Packages for the coastal areas announced in the previous budgets have not been implemented, with not even a single rupee being spent to contain sea erosion."

Satheesan said that Arabian Sea has become increasingly turbulent, and the fishing community is suffering. 

"Maybe because of climate change or some other reasons, the Arabian Sea is very turbulent and the  fishing community is suffering too much. They can not shift to live in any other area, as fishing is their livelihood. We have to give protection to the people living in the coastal areas. Unfortunately, the state government is not doing anything," he said.

He said that Eden got an answer in Parliament from the central government that there is no project submitted by the state government for containing sea erosion. 

"Our MP (Hibi Eden) got an answer in Parliament from the central government that there is no pending project submitted by the state government.That is very surprising because we need financial assistance from the central government." 

Hibi Eden told ANI that more money is needed for building seawalls and that they have requested the minister of state for Fisheries Rajiv Ranjan Singh to allot them more funds for the protection of the areas.

"The fisherman community has been given a lot of hope, but nothing has been given to them. We need a solution to the problem and it will happen only when maintenance work on the broken seawalls starts. Also, we need money for new seawalls. So those are major concerns. Disaster relief funds should be released," the MP from Ernakulam consitutency said. (ANI)