Kendrapara: Residents of some villages in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, which have been affected by sea erosion, launched an indefinite hunger strike Thursday, seeking immediate rehabilitation to safer places.
The proposed rehabilitation plan for the 40 affected families of the Satabhaya cluster of villages here is moving at a snail’s pace, according to the protesters.
“We were forced to adopt such a path for the fulfilment of our demands,” one of the protesters said.
Kendrapara sub-collector Niranjan Behera said the district administration would take proper steps for their rehabilitation after examining their demands.
Four years ago, the district administration had relocated 571 families of Satabhaya to a rehabilitation colony at Bagapatia, 12 km from the sea.
Forty families that were “left behind”, however, are yet to find a new home, the agitators said.
Around 200 people of these 40 families “have been left in the lurch” with the government yet to provide them any land in the rehabilitation colony, according to Sarbeswar Mallick, another resident.
“We’re now spending sleepless nights as a cyclone is approaching the coast,” added 65-year-old Karunakar Mallick.
A low-pressure area has formed over the Bay of Bengal on Thursday, and it is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm over the next four days and approach the coast next week.
PTI