Three months after the Kerala government approved the ₹306-crore second phase plan for constructing a tetrapod seawall in Chellanam panchayat, which remains highly vulnerable to coastal erosion, there has been little progress.
At the market rates calculated at the time, the government was expected to spend about ₹100 crore per kilometre. With local body elections expected to be notified soon, followed by the enforcement of the model code of conduct, the affected population in the coastal panchayat, who have been protesting under the banner of the Chellanam-Kochi Janakeeya Vedhi for a permanent solution to sea incursion over the past six years, are apprehensive that the project may not commence soon.
