Sea incursion-hit Kannamaly residents in Kerala lay siege to highway for third day running

The sea incursion-hit residents of Chellanam panchayat along the coastal Ernakulam district in Kerala have laid siege to the Fort Kochi-Alapuzha State highway at Kannamaly for the third day running on Wednesday.

Traffic through the highway, which remains partly flooded by marauding waves, has been further affected by the siege executed using a country fishing vessel and other sundry objects swept in by the water. The protest started on Monday evening when the sea incursion turned worse, as gushing waters pulled down compound walls of many households, inundating them.

A protest march is planned in the evening from Cheriyakkadavu to Kannamaly under the aegis of Care Chellanam. The affected people remain determined to persist with their protest till a permanent solution is found to the sea incursion.

“Nearly 600 households in the Cheriyakkadavu-Kannamaly stretch are affected, where four houses have been fully damaged and 11 partially. The affected families have moved in with their relatives. A relief camp is likely to be opened later this morning,” said T.A. Dalfine, convenor of Care Chellanam.

A team of revenue officials led by K. Manoj, Deputy Collector (Disaster Management), visited Kannamaly on Tuesday. “The sea incursion-induced flooding in Chellanam panchayat will be the main agenda at the Chief Minister’s regional-level review meeting scheduled for July 3. We are already distributing food packets in the area,” said Mr. Manoj.

The temporary solution of laying geobags, for which ₹1.25 crore had been sanctioned from the Kerala Disaster Management Fund, is progressing slowly due to the flooded state of the shore. Four particularly vulnerable points have been identified for placing the geobags on a priority basis.

The residents of the Chellanam panchayat have been up in arms demanding that the vulnerable shore be protected using a tetrapod-based seawall. While tetrapods have been erected around 7 kilometres, nearly as much remains to be covered.

A ₹306 crore-project with the funding of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is in the pipeline. A seven-member team from the ADB also visited the panchayat in March, said revenue officials. The project remains to be sanctioned by the government.

Published - June 18, 2025 10:02 am IST