Puri : The hotel and restaurant association of Odisha (HRAO) on Tuesday urged the union tourism ministry to take steps to construct a seawall in Puri to protect the shore from erosion. HRAO said the ministry should consult experts whether a seawall can be constructed by large rocks or geo-synthetic tube.
“Puri is the most sought-after tourist destination in the state. But we often witnessed cyclones and sea erosion in Puri. The ministry should rope in experts and use the latest technology to construct a seawall in Puri,” HRAO chairman J K Mohanty said at a webinar with the union tourism minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Tuesday.
Notably, the state government in August 2008 had announced to construct a geo-synthetic seawall in Puri to prevent erosion of the shore. The seawall would have been built by the help of geo-synthetic sand tubes, which were supposed to be placed underwater along the tide line. The tubes would help pile up more sands on the shore when waves receded after dashing against the tube. But the project was scrapped as the plan did not yield results during testing.
In the webinar, the HRAO urged the minister to promote water sports in Chilika lake. “We requested the minister to appoint a high level committee to prepare an action plan for beautification and development of the Chilika lake,” Mohanty said.