Udupi: Sea erosion intensifies, planting activity in full flow

Inchara Udupi
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jun 13: The annual feature of sea erosion has come back haunting again this year too, immediately after the onset of monsoon season, for people residing near the seashore at Ullal and Someshwar Ucchila near here, as well as Padukare-Kanakoda within Udayavar gram panchayat near Udupi.

At Padukare-Kanakoda, huge boulders placed to block waves from eroding the shore, have been consumed by the waves for a stretch of 50 metres. The concreted fisheries road is facing danger, as the waves are now lashing at this road. The erosion is particularly worse near Pandarinatha Bhajana Mandir and the house of Padmanaby Kotian. The locals say that the situation might aggravate if the velocity of wind increases.

Arabian Sea has become choppy at Mukkacheri, Kaiko, Kileria Nagar, and Kotepura Mogaveerapatna. During the last three years, over ten compound walls were consumed by advancing sea at Ucchila in Someshwar gram panchayat. Three more houses and a shed used by fishermen face imminent danger this year. Several leaders including zilla panchayat member, Satish Kumpala, BJP leader, Chandrashekhar Ucchila, taluk panchayat member, Dhanyavati, and Someshwar gram panchayat president, Ramani, visited the spot on Wednesday.

Both Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district got good rain on Wednesday, with incessant downpour in the coast all through Wednesday night. Half-completed road stretches at places like Mary Hill and other places are inviting danger, as people find it hard to differentiate between pits and proper road because of standing water. A tree which fell on the house of Richard Cutinho in Maroli inflicted a loss of about five lac rupees. Laxman from Kunjathbail suffered a loss of five lac rupees because of collapsed compound wall. There are reports of compound walls of several houses crashing to the ground at Sullia.

Kollur received 15 cm rain, whereas the other places received an average of six to seven cm of rain on Wednesday. The meteorological department has predicted rains to continue in the coast. It said some places in the inland districts may also get rains during the next two days.

Planting activity at its zenith in Karnataka coast

The rain that is lashing coastal Karnataka has failed to dampen the spirits of the farmers, who have enthusiastically taken up the activity of planting of seedlings in their paddy fields.

Timely arrival of monsoon has buoyed the spirits of the farmers. Heavy rain and wind have caused water to overflow in the fields, and has given rise to problems for the agricultural labourers to work properly.  However, they have failed to dampen the spirits of people working in the fields.

With the planting in progress, a thin layer of greenery has begun to cover large tracts of agricultural fields. The people of the coastal districts, who were used to the delayed arrival of monsoon since some years, are elated now as the rain god has smiled this time on them on time, thereby enabling them to undertake agricultural activities without delay. This time, even farmers whose fields are located at higher altitude, and hence faced shortage of water usually, are smiling.

The farmers of coastal Karnataka are dependent on rain for raising their paddy crop. In anticipation of rain, they had planted paddy seeds in small fields by feeding water to them from tanks, ponds, and wells. Now they have begun removing the seedlings from these fields, and planting them in other fields. There are some who have resorted to modern methods of agriculture under the guidance of the department of agriculture.  Modern agricultural implements and machinery are also being used for ploughing and other purposes by several of them, as there has been shortage of agricultural labourers everywhere.

Several farmers, whose fields are located at a lower level, are finding it hard to remove the grown seedlings because of overflowing fields and incessant rain.  Unlike in the past, a number of agricultural workers now-a-days choose to stay inside the warm environs of their home rather than working under torrential rain, perhaps because of improved financial security. 

In spite of all the problems, the farmers have no option but to take up planting activity, even if it means engaging every person from their households in this activity.