Visakhapatnam: With Vizag’s coastal waters degressing from bad to worse due to sewage flowing into the beaches, surfers in the city feel the beaches are not a paradise for surfing sport.
The foreign tourists, who enjoyed surfing at Rushikonda and a few other beaches during their visit to the city, now fear to venture into the waters due to increasing marine pollution.
The quality of the water has been declining in Vizag beaches as untreated sewage has been flowing into the sea, thanks to the civic bodies’ lackadaisical attitude.
“A few years ago, we used to swim in the water at Rushikonda, Sagarnagar and Jodugullapalem beaches in the city. Now, one can gauge the cleanliness of the water through the foul smell emanating from the water. People who get into the water for surfing and swimming complain of itching and skin rashes,” says Melville Smythe, a national-level surfing expert, associated with SAAP, who coaches children free of cost at Wave-Riders Surf School in Rushikonda.
South Africa’s fast bowler Dale Steyn, Australia’s star batsman David Warner and a few other cricketers, who enjoyed surfing at Rushikonda beach in the city during their visit to Vizag to play IPL matches, were not happy with the pollution of sea.
The ongoing coastal pollution has dented the image of Vizag, which is said to have golden beaches surrounded by green hills.
Ministers, including Ganta Srinivasa Rao and others, have been claiming that they will make Vizag a water sports hub by promoting surfing and other activities.
However, none of them seems to have focused on on saving the beaches from pollution.
“If the same situation continues, inflow of both domestic and foreign tourists would drastically drop drastically,” predicted Srinivas Kalyan, a surfer in the city.
Almost all the beaches in Vizag city are polluted. Establishing a water sports academy in Vizag is not advisable due to the coastal pollution. The wavelength and rip-current at Chintapalle beach, located in between Vizag and Vizianagaram, is ideal to set up a Water Sports Academy to promote surfing and produce talented surfers in view of surfing to be included in Tokyo Olympics-2020, says Melville Smythe.
