The month of July has just begun and already the fury of rain in the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada has claimed five lives, besides damaging property worth Rs 12.59 crore (up to June 30). By the time the rainy season comes to an end, these figures are expected to increase manifold.
However, unlike the previous years, the main culprit this year has been strong winds and not rains! “More than the rains, it was the gusty winds that led to property damage. If tiles have flown off the roof of many buildings/houses, if compound/retaining walls have collapsed, if houses on sea-shores have been reduced to heaps of mud, cement and stone, the contribution of strong winds, of course, with rains, has been significant,” opine many a people in the district.
Total rainfall this year (till June 30) has been only 1,225 mm against the average annual rainfall of 4,031 mm in the district.
“Unlike the previous years, this year there was depression in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal as well, almost simultaneously. This could also be one of the reasons for gusty winds,” opines Mr Walter Colaco, who studies weather in Mangalore. “Such winds would hit the region only after July 21,” he adds.
He also recalls major flooding of the region in 1972 for the same reason, when a lot of grass was found atop telephone wires in Bantwal region after the floods receded.
However, Mangalore University Physics Department Head Prof Balakrishna Bhat feels global warming, cutting of huge trees in the Western Ghats and rapid industrialisation in the coastal district to be the reasons for the change in climate. “The temperature of the region has gone up by nearly 2 degrees over the years,” he said and added that all these contribute to change in climate.
 Roads/bridges
The 15-day rains have damaged 591.17 km of roads in the district, thus resulting in a loss of about Rs 8.02 crore. Besides, 205 bridges/culverts (amounting to a loss of Rs 1.8 cr), 212 government buildings (amounting to a loss of Rs 1.16 cr loss), 466 private buildings (amounting to a loss of Rs 64 lakh loss) and 458 electrical connections (amounting to a loss of Rs 48.8 lakh loss) have been reported damaged due to rains, according to district administration.
Unlike the case of house collapse (where heavy winds were the main cause), the contractors’ ‘quality’ works have been the main reason for the road damage. In fact, many a roads were laid/asphalted just a few months ago. “If the roads could not withstand even a single rainy season, the contractors have to be blamed and not the Rain God,” opines Mr I J S Shet, a senior citizen in Mangalore.
Mangalore is a fast developing city and a number of development works, especially concretisation/asphalting of roads, are on in several parts of the City. “In fact, contractors love to work during the rainy season so that they can asphalt, re-asphalt and repair the roads again and again,” Mr Shet adds.
Sea erosion
Sea erosion has been a perennial problem in the coastal region, especially for those fishermen residing along the coast in places like Kotepura, Mogaveerapatna, Kodi and Mukkaccheri (near Ullal); Hosabettu, Mithrapatna and Sasihithlu (near Suratkal); Kodi Bengre, Padukone, Kemmannu Hoodi, Thonse, Hejamadi Kodi and Vadabandeshwara (in Udupi); and Marawanthe, Kundapur Kodi, Manoor and Gujjadi (in Kundapur).
Every year politicians, including the CM, rush to Ullal and other areas affected by sea erosion when a few houses are swallowed by the rough sea and announce compensation which usually runs from a few thousands to even crores (of course, not all those affected get adequate compensation!). In fact, it depends on the ‘assessment’ of the officials concerned.
The State Government has already released Rs 25 lakh to tackle sea erosion and the district administration has sought another Rs 1.75 crore.
Interestingly, every year, the government spends a huge amount on paying compensation to those affected, dumping boulders to prevent sea erosion and other related works. At the same time, a detailed proposal was sent to the Centre for a loan of Rs 135.95 crore to undertake the construction of a permanent seawall in three districts (DK, Udupi and Karwar) way back in 2002, but nothing has been done.
Meanwhile, Dakshina Kannada District-in-Charge Minister B Nagaraj Shetty has stated that the Union Government has given its nod for a Rs 291.6 crore-project to initiate work on finding a permanent solution for sea erosion in coastal districts, and it has sent the proposal to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for its clearance and the work is expected to begin in September.
On the contrary, if the authorities concerned strictly implement the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CMZ) rule, a number of problems can be solved. “If the government could use 1/100th of the funds meant for seawall to compensate those coming under the CMZ, not only can this perennial problem be solved, but also put an end to shelling out ‘annual’ compensation to the victims,” opined an official.
But, who should bell the cat? Last but not the least, it is generally said that we should not play with water, air (wind) and fire. But when water, wind and fire start playing with our lives, what are we to do?