Rajya Sabha: 20 Pc of AP Coastline Faces Threat Of Soil Erosion, Says Union Minister

NEW DELHI: As per the studies conducted by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) that more than 20 percent of the coastline in Andhra Pradesh is under a serious threat of soil erosion, Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai stated in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Answering a query posed by YSRCP MP V Vijaya Sai Reddy, the Minister explained that the INCOIS study has stated that erosion of 43.35 percent of the state's coast which is less, 33.27 percent which is moderate, and 0.55 percent of the coast is under severe threat of erosion. He said that Rupees 15 thousand Crore have been allocated and in addition to this, another Rs 1,000 Crore has been allocated from the National Disaster Relief Fund to rehabilitate those displaced due to coastal erosion.

The Minister said that in accordance with the recommendations made by the 15th Finance Commission a National Disaster Risk Management System was set up at the national level. For this purpose, Rs.68,463 Crore has been allocated for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

He also clarified that organizations under the auspices of the Department of Earth Sciences were giving advice to the respective state governments and suggesting technical solutions to deal with the threat posed to the coastal areas facing erosion to the seas.

As per reports published in  TOI, about 290 km of the 970-km coastline in the state is faced with the threat of sea erosion. A cumulative shoreline change analysis done by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) for nearly three decades reveals that about 27% of the AP coast is eroding, 42% is subject to accretion, and only 31% remains stable. AP has the second largest sea coast after Gujarat and the NCCR study has revealed that different regions in coastal AP exhibited different shoreline changes since 1990.

Also Read: Central Govt Withdraws Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021