On January 30, 2009, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation-stone for a protection wall along the coast for the benefit of the villagers of Pentha situated in the Rajnagar block of Kendrapada district. A 700-metre-long mud wall was completed by 2011. By the time the foundation stone for the project was laid in 2009, the sea had already surged forward by 20 metre towards the mud wall.
As the very existence of the village was threatened by the sea and the waves were increasingly eroding the mud wall, the World Bank graciously extended its help to create a permanent and effective barrier. The Indian Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP) considered a wall incorporating geo synthetic tubes (GST) and a budget of Rs 12 crore was duly sanctioned.
In the first phase, a 700-metre wall with a height of 7.4 metres was proposed. The Chief Minister had declared that this was a unique project to be attempted for the first time in the State. The researchers of IIT Chennai, who had developed the concept, had stressed that it would effectively counter the high tides and surges of the sea. However, these have turned out to be empty promises as even after four years, the work on the project is yet to take off.
The monsoon has now reached the State. Instead of being happy about its arrival, the villagers are now terrified about the impending low pressure rains, cyclones and consequent increased activities of the violent sea which threatens to wipe out the entire village consisting of 130 families.
The temporary arrangement made to protect the village by dumping sand bags and creating a bamboo wall along the coast is a miserly attempt which has not earned the confidence of the villagers, nor served its intended purpose.
The jute bags come apart upon the impact of the waves and the sand in them is continually washed away. The bags and the bamboo wall are no match against the powerful surges of the sea. The regular heavy expenditure incurred by the Water Resources Department in replacing the sand bags from June to November has been a total waste, says the Gram Paribartan Committee (GPC) president. The committee was set up under the aegis of the multi country climate change and disaster risk reduction initiative named Paribartan jointly implemented by the RCDC, the Concern Worldwide, and the European Union.
The GPC members have demanded the construction of three spurs reinforcing the earlier mud wall which could hold out for a longer time and provide some respite to the villagers living under a constant threat.
Supporting the idea, the members of the GPC say that with their years of experience of living along the coast, they have observed and gained a lot of knowledge about the movements and the nature of the sea. They aver that they can guide the experts about what steps to be taken to curb the effects of the waves and where. They inform that when the tides web in the lanchua river’s mouth at Barunei, the waters surge towards the Patasala river. The flow is reversed when the tide webs in the Patasala river. At both the times, the waters dash against the coastal side of the Pentha village which is situated in between the two rivers. The construction of three spurs in the spot of the coast could save the village, say the villagers.
The sea, which was once 3 km away from the village around 1931, has surged forward and now reached the boundary wall of the Baruneshwar Shiva Temple situated on the outskirts of the village. It has totally submerged in its wake the mangrove forest which used to lie in between and the Sankhapatia river in whose banks the temple was situated.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, the villagers and the members of the GPC have appealed to take immediate steps to protect the vulnerable village and its occupants.