Kendrapara: People from the sea-erosion-hit pockets of the district have begun heading to their new address, forsaking emotional bonding with their ancestral villages.
As the sea keeps gobbling up their houses, nearly a hundred families have left their homeland in Satabhaya to get resettled in the Bagapatia resettlement colony, the state's first-ever rehabilitation project colony for the sea-erosion affected people. The proposed colony is located around 8km from the sea-erosion-hit Satabhaya cluster of villages.
The Satabhaya and Kanhupur villages in Rajnagar tehsil, which were once abuzz with human activities, now wear the look of ghost hamlets.
Of the 571 families, who had been identified for rehabilitation in the resettlement colony, over 400 families already shifted to Bagapatia building houses in the allotted plots. The state government has set July 2018 deadline for the rehabilitation project, said officials.
Sudhakar Behera, 52, looks forward to setting himself free from the burden of house construction this year. The native of this erosion-hit village has made up his mind to settle in 10km into mainland leaving his ancestors' village.
"I am parting my bond with the village, which will be gobbled up by the sea sooner or later. There is no meaning in staying here anymore. I have left the village last week and begun construction of a new house in the resettlement colony at the allotted plot," said Behera.
In 2008, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had announced to shift villagers to safer place. However, things got inordinately delayed mainly because of people's reluctance to leave their homeland. 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 gone under the sea. Substantial portion of another eight villages have been submerged by the sea.
After the relocation process is over, the Satabhaya area would be brought under possession of the state forest department. The patch would be taken up for mangrove regeneration programme.
