Sea water gushes into farms, ponds

The unscientific construction of salt water dike at Padubaikadi and the lack of maintenance are said to be the reasons for salt water gushing.

Salt water has been gushing into agriculture fields and barren land at various places including Padubaikadi, Kameshwar, Koladabettu and Madivalabettu in the panchayat during high tide in the sea for the past two days. Normally, the panchayat was taking up the maintenance of salk water dike construction work immediately after the rainy season every year. However, the work has not been started so far and as a result, the salt water from the sea has started flowing into nearby drinking water resources. Following this, more than 10 families in Padubaikadi region are facing the drinking water crisis as their water resources were filled with salt water.

The dike, which was constructed with the initiative of the then MLA Jayaprakash Hegde, was said to be not maintained for the past two years. The maintenance works on the dike was not being taken up properly, after the responsibility has been handed over the gram panchayat. Currently, only wooden blocks are used to check the salt water flow in the dike. The flow of salt water can be checked by dumping sand bags. However, the gram panchayat was not keen on taking up the work.
DH News Service