project spread these seaside villages. We are heaving a sigh of relief as sea gobbling up our villages was imminent,” remarked Sashmita Das, Sarpanch of Satabhaya Gram Panchayat.
The decision to relocate the 493 families living in the vulnerable costal villages was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Once the project gets underway, it would be state's first ever rehabilitation and resettlement project for people displaced by sea erosion.
Sources in the district administration said that three villages – Magarkanda, Rabindrapalli and Dantiapada – have been earmarked for the resettlement project.
These sites are possessed with 1635.37 acre litigation-free revenue land and these ideally located 8 km from the vulnerable Satabhaya shoreline.
Each of the to-be-displaced families would be provided with 10 decimal of homestead land, two acres of cultivable land besides an IAY house. However, there would be no financial compensation for the resettled families, sources said.
The sea has been advancing menacingly and has already gobbled up five clusters of seven villages under Satabhaya gram panchayat in Rajnagar tehsil of the district. While Gobindapur, Kharikula, Mahanipur, Kaunria and Sarapada have already gone under the sea within last 40 years, those living in Satabhaya and Kanhupur have been living under constant fear of the sea.
Aware of the situation, the Odisha government had earlier drawn up a resettlement and rehabilitation package for the people facing sea's wrath. But it hit the roadblock as forest department threw a spanner and raised objection to rehabilitating people in forestland.
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