Chellanam, the coastal hamlet in the West Kochi region of Ernakulam district witnessed a buzz of activity on Saturday. Scores of residents came out of their houses even amidst the pandemic and rushed to the seashore to protest the delay by officials in constructing a seawall. The residents started a relay hunger strike 300 days ago to demand the seawall’s construction to prevent rampant sea erosion.
On Saturday, some protesters stood in the sea holding placards and many stood on top of the derelict seawall, raising slogans, demanding that the construction of the wall be completed. A few even symbolically tried to remove water by carrying seawater in vessels, saying that at least this way they can prevent sea erosion.
Chellanam is a coastal village which has been dealing with the effects of sea erosion for many years. Last month, hundreds of houses were inundated as water gushed into their house because of sea erosion. The seawall is in tatters in many parts of the village.
“It has been 300 days since we started this protest. Each day, at least one person has been taking part in the relay hunger strike. To mark 300 days, at least 300 of us are on hunger strike today [Saturday]. We will continue this protest till the day authorities built a seawall so that we can sleep in peace without fearing the sea engulfing us,” says Babu, a resident of Chellanam.
Chellanam was badly affected during the 2017 Ockhi cyclone. After Ockhi, the state government promised to construct seawall in places where the sea barrier is in ruins.
“Though works of seawall construction using geotubes were started, it was not completed and is now lying as is. Many parts of Kerala were inundated in the flood now, which is the third time since 2018. At least now we hope people realise how hard it is for us to face flooding at least twice every year,” Babu adds.
Last month, hundreds of people in Chellanam were found to be positive for the novel coronavirus, transmitted locally. The whole panchayat was declared as a COVID-19 cluster, and the situation has now improved.
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