1,500-acre farmland inundated as tidal waves breach embankment in Kendrapara

KENDRAPARA: Panic gripped Panikhia under Mahakalapada block on Thursday after tidal waves breached the saline embankment of the seaside village, causing extensive damage to agricultural land.

According to reports, vast tracts of agriculture fields were salinised with tidal waves spilling over into farmlands in Nanjura and Panikhia. Suna Marandi of Panikhia village said the weak saline embankment caved in due to high tidal waves, resulting in a 12 feet breach in it. Around 1,500 acres of agricultural land in Panikhia and nearby areas were submerged inMany farmers had already sown paddy seeds after ploughing their agriculture land. Their hopes were dashed after saline water entered their fields due to the embankment breach,” claimed Marandi.Another villager, Bhakskar Mandal, said the weak embankments are not able to bear the onslaught of tidal waves. As a result, residents of many seaside villages have to spend sleepless nights during the high tide period.

Farmer leader Umesh Chandra Singh claimed that many prawn farm owners are illegally damaging the embankments to allow flow of saline water into their gheris in the seaside villages to breed shrimps.The authorities, however, have reportedly turned a blind eye to the illegal act.

Contacted, Kendrapara collector Raghuram R Iyer said the district administration has directauthorities concerned to repair the saline embankments which have been damaged. Officials of Water Resources and other departments concerned have also been instructed to repair all weak river embankments in the district before the 

Sources said high tides and storm surges frequently breach saline embankments in the coastal pockets of Kendrapara, causing devastating saline water intrusion.These breaches destroy crops, submerge villages, and contaminate drinking water.There are frequent reports of seawater entering the villages allegedly due to non-repair of damaged embankments and sub-standard sluice gates.