Kendrapara, June 7: Tidal waves have inundated about 700 acres of crop field at Rajarajeswari village in Rajnagar tehsil here.

The tidal waves got the better of the ill-maintained sluice gates on the embankment at strategic points yesterday evening, leading to a watery upsurge at the village in Gupti gram panchayat.

The saline embankment buffer was erected about 20 feet above the seacoast.

"The tidal waves spilled over the sluice gates of the embankment. Work has begun to repair the damaged sluice gates. Water inflow has been temporarily plugged by putting in place sand-filled bags. We have identified some coastal points prone to breaching due to tidal ingress. We have also started to repair the areas on a war-footing," said executive engineer of saline embankment division Jugal Kishore Tripathy.

The engineers of the saline embankment division have been asked to undertake repair and maintain the weak embankments and sluice gates to stop tidal ingress in the coastal region in the future, said Kendrapara collector Debraj Senapati.

"Hit by slipshod maintenance, the embankment, which was built during the 1970s to protect the coastal villages in Rajnagar tehsil, is now in a bad shape," said Gayadhar Dhal, a spokesperson of a local peasants' body.

"Funds sanctioned for refurbishment of the embankment in the aftermath of 1999 supercyclone and the subsequent years have mostly been misused. As a result, the coastal villages are still exposed to the vagaries of nature," he added.