Kendrapara: Odisha's first resettlement project for the sea-erosion-hit people has reached its concluding phase with the relocation of the Panchuvarahi deity from the sea-battered Satabhaya village.

Almost all the families targeted for rehabilitation have forsaken their ancestral bond with Satabhaya and have moved to the safety of Bagapatia resettlement colony. Six families who are yet to leave the sea-erosion-hit village have been asked to vacate the village in a week, said Rajnagar tehsildar Nihar Ranjan Mallick.

The presiding deity of Panchuvarahi shrine was relocated from Satabhaya to Bagapatia on April 20. Following the shifting of deity, around 70 families who had stuck to the village voluntarily shifted themselves to Bagapatia. They have been provided homestead land at the project colony. Besides, the administration also provided them with house building grants. Right now, they are staying at temporary of kutcha houses. But, they have already started building permanent or pucca houses.

Constantly experiencing the travails of seeing their houses gobbled up by mighty Bay of Bengal, almost all of the 571 identified families have left for good their homeland at Satabhaya to get resettled in Bagapatia resettlement colony, situated around 8 kilometres from the sea-erosion-hit Satabhaya cluster of villages. The seaside village which was once abuzz with human activities now wears the look of deserted hamlet.

According to the rehabilitation package of the government, each family has been provided with 10 decimal of homestead land and Rs 1.5 lakh for construction of a housing unit.

Sixteen revenue villages, spread over 3,440 acres in Satabhaya panchayat were reduced to a couple of hamlets - Satabhaya and Kanhupur - as furious sea battered these areas almost on a daily basis.

The state government has faced innumerable anti-displacement movements in various districts. On the contrary, the movement by the villagers of Satabhaya and Kanhupur was in favour of relocation. People here wanted to be rehabilitated elsewhere as the sea made steady advance towards their villages. The decision to relocate 571 families living in the vulnerable coastal villages had been taken in 2008 at a meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The project in Kendrapara district is the state's first-ever rehabilitation and resettlement project for the people displaced by sea erosion.