KENDRAPARA: After the fear of losing everything to the sea, the 235 families left out of the erosion-hit villages under Satabhaya panchayat in Rajnagar block heaved a sigh of relief after the government announced a sanction of Rs 22 crore for their rehabilitation to Bagapatia.With the sea just a few metres away, these families have been spending sleepless nights with the fear that it might devour their houses any moment.
“The district administration had rehabilitated 571 families of the gram panchayat to the rehabilitation colony at Bagapatia 10 years back but the officials had not made provision of shifting us. The sea is a stone’s throw away and can wash our houses away any time,” said 60-year-old Sarat Mallick of Kanhupur village.
Locals fear they will lose their farmlands and houses if they are not rehabilitated soon. “The sea is so near that we are afraid our children will die. We want to leave but do not have financial resources. Since the government sanctioned Rs 22 crore for our rehabilitation, we hope the administration takes steps towards providing us land and house building assistance at Bagapatia soon,” said a villager Rajkishore Mallick.
Convenor of Satabhaya Citizen Forum Dharanidhar Rout alleged the district administration had been apprised of the issue many times in the past but they only dragged the matter with false assurances.“There is a lot of corruption and mismanagement among the higher authorities regarding the selection of families for rehabilitation. While some people received multiple houses in the names of their family members, several others were left out,” he added.
Kendrapara sub-collector Niranjan Behera said there have been no irregularities as far as rehabilitation is concerned. “The families rehabilitated earlier have been provided houses under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana. Besides, the government has also built a high school and nodal upper primary school, cyclone centre, four Anganwadi centres and a market complex besides providing several other facilities at Bagapatia,” he said adding, the remaining villagers would be rehabilitated soon.