KENDRAPARA: In the absence of motorable road, around 300 voters from sea erosion-hit Satabhaya and Magarakandha panchayats of Kendrapara district had to walk around 10 km to cast their votes in the rehabilitation colony at Bagapatia during the third phase panchayat elections on Sunday. They also crossed the crocodile-infested Bausagali river to reach their destination.
“I have been living in a makeshift house with my two children for the last 10 years. My husband had applied for land in the rehab colony but officials rejected on grounds that they had already given land to my father-in-law,” said Manorama Behera (34), adding that earlier they used to vote in Satabhaya but the polling booths for the first time were shifted to Bagapatia.
“Our names are included in the electoral roll of Satabhaya but since the booths were shifted, I walked all the way to Bagapatia to cast my vote. My land application too was declined and I still live in a hut close to the sea,” said Ramesh Mallick, another resident of Satabhaya.
Though 115 families from these panchayats are waiting to be rehabilitated from the danger-prone area, no step has been taken in the matter. Four years back, the State government had shifted 571 vulnerable families of the panchayat to Bagapatia rehabilitation colony in view of the alarming erosion of the beach stretch at Satabhaya.
However, some families living close to the coast are yet to be shifted. They continue to live under uncertain conditions amid constant fear of the advancing sea.
However, Rajnagar tehsildar Bholanath Sethi said, “Some families are still staying in Satabhaya for fishing and other livelihood purposes though they got houses at the rehabilitation colony. Many walked all the way to cast votes on Sunday.”
The 12-km stretch of the beach at Satabhaya panchayat is said to be the fastest-eroding beach on Odisha coast. More than 1000 homes and large tracts of agricultural lands have been devoured by the rising sea in the past 40 years.