New mouth opening in Chilka lake worries villagers

Puri, Aug 4 (UNI) A new opening of Chilka lake with sea has caused panic among the residents of four villages, who apprehended large scale soil erosion threatening complete washout of their villages.

With this new opening huge tidal waves were menacingly invading the lake and threatening the nearby Gabakund, Raipur, Mirzapur and Padmapur villages situated within one kilometer from the confluence point.

The mighty sea current was also playing havoc in the lake and is likely to disturb the flora, fauna and ecology of the brakish water lake to a great extent.

BJD Lok Sabha member B K Tripathy along with local political leaders had visited the area and expressed grave concern over the strange behaviour of the sea.

The MP had asked the administration to initiate steps on war footing to protect the lives and property of the villages from the sea ingression.

When contacted, Chilika Development Authority(CDA) Chief Executive Sudershan Panda said the experts from the integrated coastal management project directorate and IIT have been consulted over the phenomenon and a team of experts was likely to visit the area to ascertain the cause of shifting of the lake mouth.

Puri District Magistrate R N Mishra along with engineers of irrigation and works department would visit the area on Tuesday to take stock of the situation and initiate immediate protective measures to save the villages from the tidal waves of the sea.

Sadasiv Jena, an octogenarian staying in one of the villages, said the new confluence point was opened last Friday joining the lake with the sea.

This new mouth, he said was barely 1 km away from the Sipakuda confluence point.The new opening initially began with a 50 meter wide gap on Friday night but subsequently widened by 200 meters.

The residents were spending sleepless nights as they feared that both the openings would be one within a short time due to continuous soil erosions.

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