Tidal waves batter the coastal embankment at Pentha in Kendrapara district following cyclone Hudhud’s impact. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Oct. 16: Legal hurdles have been cleared for the state’s first geo-synthetic tube project that has failed to start for the lack of forest and wildlife clearance.

Earlier, the forest department had halted construction of the geo-synthetic tube seawall to arrest sea erosion due to legal issues.

Marauding sea waves have been constantly battering the Pentha coast in Rajnagar of Kendrapara district, prompting the state government to install the geo-synthetic buffer on the embankment. Over a dozen thickly populated villages lie exposed following massive erosion along the coastline. Following the impact of Hudhud on October 12, the coastal embankment at Pentha was further damaged by tidal waves.

Executive engineer of the saline embankment division Jugal Kishore Tripathy said: “Steps are being taken to obtain necessary clearance from competent authorities. The project had been accorded a coastal regulation zone clearance. The forest department had asked for forest and wildlife clearance, arguing that the project site was close to the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.”

In a joint survey, the revenue, irrigation and the forest department measured the proposed project site. The land was found to be a private one and not a forestland as claimed by the department. The land had come under sea erosion. Tripathy said those, who had owned the land, gave in writing their willingness to volunteer to give it away for the project.

A joint verification was conducted recently to identify the land category. The land, where the project is being carried out, is not a forestland, said divisional forest officer, Rajnagar mangrove and wildlife division, Kedar Kumar Swain.The joint survey findings have been submitted to the national wildlife board. As the project site does not come under the forest category, the Rajnagar mangrove and wildlife forest division has permitted us to carry out the construction, said the official.

The seawall proposal was mooted in 2008. However, because of many factors, it got delayed. The project had begun in summer under the technical supervision of engineers deputed by the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project and coastal embankment division of the state government. But, work stopped after the forest department had raised objection on the ground of forest and wildlife clearance.

The coastal zone management project, which was being implemented under the technical expertise and guidance of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, to protect the vulnerable from the onslaught of the sea, had suffered a setback then.

The deadline for completion of the Rs 33-crore project is March 2015, said an official of the saline embankment division.

“The decision to erect geo-tubes to arrest sea erosion was taken on the basis of the IIT’s findings. Oceanographic experts, deputed by the institute, had studied the beach profile, moisture contents of sandy particles, morphology of the eroded beach and intensity, frequency and velocity of the waves,” Tripathy said.

The ministry of environment and forest, on the basis of onscreen digitisation of the coastline and satellite imagery study, has stated that over one-third of the state shoreline is exposed to varying degree of sea erosion. Of it, 8.2 per cent is severely hit by sea erosion and it includes the Pentha coast.