Kendrapara: The cluster of Satabhaya villages is a picture of contrasts compared to the rest of the district.

While people register protests against land acquisition in other parts of Kendrapara district, Satabhaya villagers are leaving their ancestral land as the sea continues to eat into their settlements.

The state's first rehabilitation project colony for the people hit by sea erosion has got under way at Bagapatia village under Rajnagar tehsil. The proposed colony is located around 8km from the Satabhaya cluster.

"The project to relocate the people from their ancestral villages of Satabhaya and Kanhupur is in full swing. After initial delays, the project is nearing completion," said special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethy, who visited the colony site and reviewed the progress on Monday.

The government has allocated 10-decimal land to 571 beneficiary families, who have lost their habitations to sea erosion at Satabhaya.

"They will construct their dwellings in the resettlement colony with funding from the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana. The beneficiaries have also been provided with land records of rights after the forest clearance approval from competent authorities," Sethy said.

On Monday, the government included an additional 149 beneficiaries in the rehabilitation project. These erosion-hit families, who have voluntarily relocated to safety, will figure in the list of beneficiaries. They would also be allocated patta in the resettlement colony and receive all the benefits on a par with the 571 earmarked beneficiaries. With this, the resettlement colony will permanently house 720 erosion-affected families," he said.

The rehabilitation project was scheduled to be complete by March 2018. However, the deadline has now been extended to July. "Around 200 families are yet to leave their ancestral lands in Satabhaya panchayat, possibly because of their deep attachment to the land. They had agreed to shift to Bagapatia. Around 139 families have already settled there," Sethy said.

Sixteen revenue villages spread over 3,440 acres in Satabhaya panchayat have now been reduced to a couple of hamlets. Five villages - Mohanpura, Sanagahirmatha, Paramnandapura, Kaduanasi and Sahebnagar - have completely submerged, while another eight are partially submerged. Most of these villages do not have human settlements any longer.