BERHAMPUR: People in the coastal village of Ramayapatana in Chikiti block are in a state of panic as high tides have been lashing the area since June 26. With four houses already collapsed, some panic-stricken villagers have moved to safer places.
On Thursday, tehsildar Biswaranjan Kanhar and a team of engineers from the Water Resources department visited the village and took stock of the situation. Local leader Janardan Odia alleged that the confluence near Sunapur about 1 km from Ramayapatana, where the water of Bahuda river reaches the sea, has been buried, resulting in sea water gushing in during high tide.
Notably, in 2008, when the village faced similar circumstances, then Union Minister and present Berhampur MP, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, then Odisha Revenue minister and present Speaker of OLA Surjyanarayan Patro and then Ganjam Collector VK Pandian had visited the village and proposed to construct a wall which remains only on pen and paper till date.
Locals said tides around 20 feet high have caused sea water to engulf the entire beach and damage houses. Immediate clearing of the confluence along with building a guard wall is the need of the hour to save the seaside villages.