KENDRAPARA: Residents of several seaside villages under Kendrapara’s Rajnagar block staged a protest meeting on Tuesday, urging the government to restore the original alignment of the proposed coastal highway to protect the region from sea erosion and natural disasters.
The protesters stated that initially, a 452-km coastal highway from Gopalpur in Odisha to Digha in West Bengal was proposed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana at an estimated cost of Rs 7,500 crore. The original proposal included a 50-km stretch through Rajnagar block. However, the alignment was revised last month, excluding Rajnagar from the project.
BJD leader and former Rajnagar MLA Ansuman Mohanty alleged that the revised alignment would leave the coastal villages vulnerable to cyclones, storm surges, sea erosion and other natural disasters.
Last month, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the construction of the long-awaited coastal highway connecting Rameshwar and Paradip. The proposed highway will pass through the coastal districts of Khurda, Puri, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur. The highway will traverse Mahakalapada block in Kendrapara district and bypass Rajnagar.
The protesters claimed that nearly 10,000 people from the coastal gram panchayats of Satabhaya, Hatina, Kurunti and adjoining areas lost their lives in the devastating 1971 cyclone. They argued that a coastal highway would act as a protective barrier against cyclones, tidal surges and sea erosion.
However, environmentalists opposed the demand, arguing that such a move would threaten the mangrove ecosystem of Bhitarkanika and the Olive Ridley nesting beaches at Gahirmatha. A highway through Rajnagar’s coastal belt could cause irreversible damage to the region’s fragile ecosystem, they said.