The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) in its report has pressed the alarm bells warning that the coastline along Andhra Pradesh is facing a massive coastal erosion. Andhra Pradesh has a coastline of 974 km and of this, about 290 km is under varying degrees of erosion, according to the shoreline change assessment mapping done by the NCCR.
As per the research study, about 480 km of the coast in the state is subject to accretion (deposition of sand), while the remaining coastline is, however, in a stable state. The assessment was carried out by using satellite data spanning 28 years.
The coastal erosion had hit several beaches in Vizag city in the past. Visakhapatnam is taking up beach nourishment works in the eroded RK beach area every year to improve the beach front. However, the proposed permanent control measures have not made any headway.