The sea erosion-prone Satabhaya gram panchayat people on Monday called off their fast onto death agitation, which they had been staging at the Collectorate here for last eight days demanding rehabilitation at the soonest, following assurances from District Collector Ratnakar Rout.
Rout assured the agitators that he would take steps on war-footing to expedite the Biju Nagar Rehabilitation Colony work at Bagapatia, which would rehabilitate them.
Sources said, Rout has decided to take up the issue at a high-level meeting to be held at the Secretariat on February 7 under the chairmanship Additional Chief Secretary of Revenue Department Tara Dutt.
“As the District Collector assured us to look into our legitimate demands, we withdrew our stir temporarily for 15 days,” said the agitators.
They also threatened that they would stage dharna in front of Naveen Niwas if their demands are not met within a fortnight.
Notably, a total of 571 families will be rehabilitated at the proposed colony, for which Rajnagar MlA Alekha Jena had laid foundation stone in June 2011.