The council in Kandoodhoo of Thaa atoll have held the government accountable for not protecting parts of the island vulnerable to erosion.

Naushad Abdull, a member of the island council, told RaajjeMV that the government has failed to provide protection for these areas, as it is its responsibility to do. He said that the government had placed geotextile bags in 2016, when they had garunteed it would also provide protection for a period of 50 years.

Naushad said that the bags had been destroyed weeks into the placement, and recounted that he had explained this to Environment Minister Mohamed Thoriq. Thoriq had then reportedly told the council to continue placement of the bags regardless.

The council and the ministry had agreed that work to reinforce the damaged bags would go forward within 15 days of their initial meeting, and set a budget of MVR 11 million for the project. Naushad said he and his colleagues had even made preparations to acquire the relevant machineries for it.

Naushad said that the project had only continued until later last year, and has been at a halt since. He said that this was the fault of the government.

The island council representative said that the vulnerable area holds the island’s docking site for fishing vessels and its destruction strikes at the earnings of Kandoodhoo’s people.