33.6% of Indian coast under varying rate of erosion, says govt

More than one-third of India's coast is eroding at varying rate of changes according to a study of satellite data over 28 years, the government told Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

"The study of 28 years satellite data by National Centre for Coastal Research (1990-2018) indicates that 33.6 per cent of Indian coast is eroding with varying rate of changes," Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.

He said Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has published an atlas of Coastal Vulnerability Index maps the entire coastline of India at 1:100000 scale using data on sea level rise, coastal slope, shoreline change rate, coastal elevation, coastal geomorphology, tidal range, and significant wave height.

According to the studies conducted, as many as 124 km of coastal stretch recorded under very high coastal vulnerability which was 5.36 per cent of the total coastline of the state, Singh said.

In Tamil Nadu, 65 km of coastline, which is 6.38 per cent of the total coastline of the state ranks very high on CVI, followed by West Bengal (49 km, 2.56 per cent), Karnataka & Goa (48 km, 9.54 per cent), Odisha (37 km, 7.51 per cent), Andaman Islands (24 km, 0.96 per cent), Kerala (15 km, 2.39 per cent), Nicobar Islands (8 km, 0.97 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (6 km, 0.55 per cent).

Singh said the ministry and its institutes is also providing technical solutions and advice to the state governments and union territories to deal with coastal erosion threats.