The deadline to rehabilitate the sea erosion-prone 571 victim families of Satabhaya before June 30 at Bagapatia may not be met.
This is because several infrastructure development works are yet to be carried out and the most important thing is several families are yet to start their houses at the Bagapatia colony.
The district administration has provided 10 decimal of land to each family for construction of house. The district administration has targeted to spend Rs 1.5 lakh for construction of a pucca house. Apart from this, the administration would provide a sum of Rs 12,000 each for construction of latrine.
According to Maheswar Sethy, a resident of Satabhaya, as most of the families to be shifted to the rehabilitation colony at Bagapatia are poverty stricken, it would be difficult for them to construct houses with the meagre amount provided by the administration. The major problem is as the rehabilitation site is a low-lying area, so most of the beneficiaries have already spent more than Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 for filling the earth. But the district administration has been providing only Rs 10,000 for filling earth at the house construction site.
Those who are financially sound have started their house construction works. But a majority of families are yet to complete their houses up to lintel level.
According to Rajnagar tehsildar Khirod Kumar Behera, the district administration provides Rs 10,000 to each beneficiary for filling earth. The RD Department has been entrusted for filling earth in the low-lying area and for periphery development. As a result, the district administration has given a proposal of Rs 6.37 crore, including Rs 3.90 for filling earth and Rs 1.54 crore for repairing the roads, at the site.
Meanwhile, as many as 561 out of 571 families till date have already filled earth, whereas 551 families have stated construction of houses by erecting pillar structure. 115 families out of 571 families have already completed house up to lintel level whereas 10 families have completed their houses up to roof level. Only one family has already completed the house, stated district Collector Debaraj Senapati.
The district administration recently requested the OSDMA to provide the required additional fund of Rs 3.67 crore for the early completion of all 571 houses.
As many as four water tankers have been engaged at the rehabilitation colony to supply sweet water to the beneficiaries for construction of their houses whereas the RWSS Department has already installed 20 tube wells at the colony.
The RWSS has been entrusted to construct an overhead tank, whose construction would be started soon. This would help provide pipe water to the residents in the colony. An estimated Rs 1.72crore has been estimated for the project and the proposal has been sent for approval. Apart from this, another 21 tube wells will be installed at the rehabilitation site. The district Collector has shown his displeasure over the poor performance of CESU regarding supply of electricity in a review meeting that was held in the last week of April.
Besides, three Anganwadi centers, a gram panchayat office and a godown at Bagapatia will be constructed. The Biju Nagar Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra (BNRGSK) building is yet to be completed.