One of the rarest geological formations in India, Erra Matti Dibbalu (red sand dunes) on shores of the Bay of Bengal on Bhimili road on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, are facing a threat of disintegration, due to rapid development of housing layouts in the area.
Environmentalists, geologists and political activists have been crying foul over the land pooling done by the Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) in July last year for the construction of weaker section colony at Nerellavalasa village on the fringes of Erra Matti Dibbalu, notified as geo-heritage site by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in 2014.
“Hundreds of trees on the west side of Erra Matti Dibbalu have been felled to level the ground, posing a threat to the rare geological formations, dating back to more than 18,000 years ago,” former IAS officer and environmentalist EAS Sarma said in a letter to Visakhapatnam district collector and chairman of VMRDA Dr A Mallikarjuna in June.
According to geologist and former professor of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam D Rajasekhar Reddy, these red sand dunes are a geological marvel unique to coastal Andhra, spread over a length of five kilometres along the coast and a width of nearly two kilometres it is located at a distance of 16 km from Visakhapatnam city.
Reddy said research by geologists revealed that the Erra Matti Dibbalu might have been formed nearly 18,500 years ago during the glacial maxima period, when the sea is believed to have gone back to over 50 km away from the shore due to climatic changes, leaving vast stretches of sand dune deposits.
{{/usCountry}}Reddy said research by geologists revealed that the Erra Matti Dibbalu might have been formed nearly 18,500 years ago during the glacial maxima period, when the sea is believed to have gone back to over 50 km away from the shore due to climatic changes, leaving vast stretches of sand dune deposits.
{{/usCountry}}“The tidal variations led to the formation of these huge sand dunes and over a period of time, the oxidation of iron-bearing minerals in the sand resulted in the dunes gaining a reddish colour. The dunes became hardened due to the iron-binding elements in the sand and also accumulation of soil over the dunes. This led to growth of huge vegetation over these dunes and the calcium deposits in the roots of the trees resulted in further hardening of soil,” Reddy said.
According to him, the Erra Matti Dibbalu holds a lot of significance geologically, as they are helpful for geologists to study global climatic changes, sea-level variations and monsoonal variability. They are valuable scientific documents and provide an important link to geological evolution, he said.
“Archaeologically, too, they are important, because the region was also the home to the prehistoric man as the excavations in the region revealed stone implements of three distinctive periods and also the pottery of the Neolithic man,” Reddy, who is also the convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Visakhapatnam chapter, said.
He said such sand dunes were found to be only in three places in South Asia — the other two being Teri Sands of Tamil Nadu and Red Coastal Sands of Sri Lanka. “These dunes are very fragile and liable to degradation, if not protected,” the geologist said.
The GSI declared Erra Matti Dibbalu as a geo-heritage site in 2014 and the state government declared it as a protected area after environmentalists and geologists pressed for the same.
“Unfortunately, the area is fast turning into a real estate venture with several projects coming up near the area. There is every possibility that once the residential colonies come up in and around the area, they will overshadow these wonderful sand dunes and it will not take long time for the developers dig up the sand dunes to expand their real estate activity,” said another noted environmentalist Sohan Hattangadi, who has been fighting for the protection of Erra Matti Dibbalu.
Jana Sena Party leader and Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation member Peethala Murthy Yadav also strongly resisted construction of houses near ecologically sensitive Erra Matti Dibbalu on the Bheemili beach road. “We have written to the VMRDA to stop the land acquisition as it would be detrimental to the environment,” he said.
HT reached out to the district collector and VMRDA chairman Dr Mallikarjun but did not receive a response.