VISAKHAPATNAM: Revenue officials on Tuesday stopped the levelling of ground at Erra Matti Dibbalu, a geological heritage site here, after environment activists raised an alarm. Videos of heavy machinery digging up Erra Matti Dibbalu or red sand dunes and levelling the ground went viral on social media. The ground was being levelled to build a housing colony.
Revenue officials intervened and stopped the digging work. However, the housing society, which is involved in the levelling activity, maintained that it had obtained all the requisite permissions from the departments concerned to taking up housing. Environment activists argue that the problem had arisen due to clear cut demarcation of the boundary of the protected geological heritage site.
Erra Matti Dibbalu on the shores of Bay of Bengal on Bheemili beach road in Vizag city are facing the threat of disintegration due to official apathy. Major portions of the heritage site have been dug out over the years, while encroachments are rampant.
The Geologcial Survey of India (GSI) has declared red sand dunes as a geo-heritage site. AP govt too has declared it as a protected area. However, the area remains protected only on paper, if digging through heavy machinery is any indication. Further, there are no warning signboards or fencing around the site.
The state govt had allocated land to Bheemunipatnam Mutually Aided Co-Operative Building Society Ltd through an alienation process, following which VMRDA gave permission for land development.
Referring to the ground levelling activity, Haragopal Rao B, president of the Bheemunipatnam co-operative society, said their society has 2,000 members and owns 373 acres of land near Erra Matti Dibbalu. Recognizing Erra Matti Dibbalu as an ecologically sensitive area, the society set aside over 90 acres of land to protect the geo-heritage site. It is now developing a layout on the remaining 280 acres after obtaining permissions from various govt departments. Haragopal Rao said they paid six crore rupees to local bodies for the layout. He added that if local bodies mark the boundaries of the geo-heritage site, their society will contribute to the fencing around Erra Matti Dibbalu. The red sand dunes are unique to only a handful of places in the world, including Vizag, and are spread around a length of five kilometres along the coast and a width of two kilometres. They are about 15,000 years old. The other two places where they are found are in Tamil Nadu (Teri sands) and in Sri Lanka (red coastal sands). The formations, consisting of a mixture of sand, silt and clay were formed when ancient sand moulds were blown from the beach to the land.
Stating that red sand dunes are fragile, environmentalist Sohan Hattangadi said VMRDA must mark boundaries to clarify the extent of Erra Matti Dibbalu and clearly designate it as a geological heritage site, besides putting a ban on any construction or earth extraction. “A committee of concerned citizens and officials should be formed to protect the area,” Sohan demanded.
Protecting Erra Matti Dibbalu is essential to preserve a piece of our planet’s history for future generations to learn from and appreciate, said social activist G Srinivas. “Immediate action is required. AP govt should take necessary steps, including designating Erra Matti Dibbalu as a protected area under national and state environmental laws to prevent construction or industrial activity in its vicinity,” he opined.
