The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra to take appropriate action for rehabilitation and safety of the villagers of Satabhaya, Kahnupur, Barahipur, Rabindrapali, Magarkanda in Kendrapada district.
The NHRC has issued this direction while acting over a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer and rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
Due to prolonged step-motherly treatment of the State Government, Satabhaya, Kanhupur and the adjacent villages frequently are constantly under threat of the sea that has been eating into their settlements at regular intervals and causing great distress to them. The sea incursions have disrupted normal life. Despite the intense vulnerability of the area, no cyclone shelter has come up in the locality yet. Inaction of the State Government has resulted in loss of lives and livelihoods of more than 500 families, the petitioner Radhakanta had alleged.
Having lost their means of livelihood, the people are migrating to far off places every year. And most of the breadwinners’ destination is Kerala, he mentioned.
The sea has already swallowed up five of the seven hamlets — Gobindapur, Kharikula, Mahanipur, Kaunria and Sarapada —under the Satabhaya gram panchayat. It is feared that Satabhaya and Kanhupur will be wiped out of the map over the next couple of years. All families have reconstructed their houses two or three times during the past decade for protection against the advancing sea. People here are desperate to get rehabilitated away from the coastline. But delay on part of the administration has forced them to live at the mercy of nature, he said.
Satabhaya, the 7th island of the village, where Odia legendary girl Tapoi’s 7 brothers resided, might reserve its place in the history by losing its complete identity on the geographical map of the state. Odisha’s revenue record reveals that five islands of the village, namely Gobindpur, Mohinipur, Kuanriora, Kharipula and Sarapada, have already been lost to tidal waves of the Bay of Bengal. Three villages of Gobindpur, Mohinipur and Kuanriora lost their identity as the sea-surge completely washed away these villages in 1971 cyclone. 11 years later in a similar massive cyclone, Kharipula and Sarapada were lost to the sea. In the latest 1999 Super Cyclone, the entire agricultural land was engulfed in heavy sand layers. The State Government has not yet acted for resettlement colony at Babapatia in Gupti of Kendrapara district to permanently house the displaced families, Radhakanta contended.
He requested the NHRC to visit the villages and direct the State to act on war footing to rehabilitate the villagers and ensure adequate safety of life and livelihood. The Chief Secretary has been directed to reply within eight weeks.