Come monsoon, residents of Kankadapal - a village near the mouth of river Subarnarekha - feel scared with every spell of rain. They fear that the river would devour their habitat if it rains heavily.
During the last decade, erosion of river bank has created havoc in Badakhanpur, Sanakhanpur, Baunsakhanda, Pantei, Kumbhiragadi, Adanga and Kolha villages. The situation in Sekhabad, Gobarghata, Mankidia, Gobardhanpur, Baiganbadia, Kirtania, Kantapal, Mohammadpur, Asti, Badhapal, Bishnupur, Ramnagar, Rasulpur, Gopalpur, Pathurighata, Rajpur, Mankidia, Bagada, Talabarei, Kasaphal, Panta and Parikhi villages is equally bad.
With proposal to protect sea and river-side villages from erosion in Balasore district gathering dust, these villages are slowly but steadily losing their land. The villages face the threat of getting washed away completely if no protective measure is taken urgently.
Officials of the Irrigation department said over 100 villages close to Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga and Jalaka rivers in Bhogarai, Jaleswar, Basta, Baliapal and Sadar blocks are now in danger. The issue crops up during every election - be it panchayat, Assembly or Lok Sabha. Thereafter, all promises fall flat.
What has pressed the panic button is that both Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga are changing their courses. While river banks are receding, parts of villages are fast disappearing with the river biting off chunks of land at an alarming rate on both sides.
A local leader Bhubanananda Das said for the past two decades, Subarnarekha had been posing a serious threat for Bhogarai, Baliapal and Jaleswar blocks. Though at some places, its bank has been reinforced with boulders and metal so that it cannot erode, the river has started eating into other areas, he pointed out.
The condition of people residing in riverside villages of Budhabalana is no better. In recent years, there has been a southward bend in the flow of the river for which it has gobbled up portions of villages while exposing vast stretches of sand beds at some places on the northern side.
Not only rivers, even the Bay of Bengal poses threat to scores of villages under five blocks of the district. Last month, five to seven metres high tidal waves had engrossed at least 20 coastal panchayats inundating over 5000 ha of paddy fields. Tides had also damaged a portion of a jetty at Kirtania and some business establishments in Talasari beach.
While at most of the places sea embankments have weakened, protection wall of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was damaged at some points due to the tidal current.
Sources said though a proposal estimated around Rs15 crore was mooted to construct a protection wall along the sea to prevent sea erosion three years back. But, no step has been taken yet to implement it.
The irrigation officials, on the other hand, claimed to have been initiating measures to check erosion.
Executive Engineer Rajkishore Ghadei said a fresh proposal of nearly Rs 9 crore has been sent to the Government for Chandrabali-Kirtania project. “While spurs are under construction at Routraypur, proposals for Rasalpur and Mankidia projects are awaiting sanction. This apart, one more proposal is being planned for Kankadapal portion of nearly 1 km which will be undertaken with the assistance of high-level technical team,” he added.
