A team of experts will visit Sagar Island on July 30 to find a permanent solution to the erosion of the beach caused by high tides and save Kapil Muni’s temple, one of the most-visited pilgrim sites in the state.

The administration decided to take prompt action after last week’s high tide during the full moon swept away a concrete path near the temple. The distance between the temple and the beach was 470 metres in 2019 and is 270 metres now.

A feasibility survey conducted by IIT-Madras is under the government’s consideration.

On Thursday, Sunderbans development minister Bankim Chandra Hazra inspected the area around the Kapil Muni’s temple, along with officials of the state irrigation department.

“A high-level expert team will visit the damaged stretch on July 30 to find a permanent solution. We are reviewing the IIT-Madras’s survey report so that its recommendations can be implemented in consultation with the experts as soon as possible to prevent erosion,” said Hazra.

Several measures initiated by the government on Sager Island in the past four years miserably failed to prevent the erosion. The government is now banking on the technological advice given by IIT-Madras a year ago. The Kolkata Port Trust also assisted in surveying the erosion-prone area. A report was prepared on how the underwater soil is being eroded.

A project of ₹141 crore was envisaged and the government approached the Centre for financial support. However, with the Centre showing no willingness and the government unable to obtain permission from the Coastal Regulation Zone, a wing of the Union ministry of environment and forest, the project could not be taken up.

As high tides continue to erode the beach near Kapil Muni’s temple, residents warn that without immediate intervention, the holy site may soon be engulfed by the sea.

The distance between the temple and the sea is narrower, especially from Beach II to Beach III — a stretch which was frequently battered by high tides and natural
calamities.

Hazra has accused the central government of not allocating funds to prevent
the erosion.

“Preventing erosion is a massive task that cannot be accomplished by the state government alone. Unfortunately, the Centre has not bothered to allocate funds for such projects,” Hazra claimed.

Last year, the irrigation department installed tetrapod-based protection along the stretch in front of the temple for ₹16 crore, but it was washed away before the year ended. This year, the irrigation department implemented a pilot project on an emergency basis before the Gangasagar Mela, but it also proved ineffective.

The South Dinajpur district administration planted coconut trees along a 1 km stretch from roads 1 to 5, but these trees have also been claimed by the sea.

Sources in the irrigation department said the IIT-Madras had proposed erecting a long and narrow shore-perpendicular structure in the water from the beach to prevent erosion.

The objective is to trap and accumulate sand that would otherwise drift.