Kendrapara: Around 600 households in the picturesque coastal villages of Satabhaya panchayat in Kendrapara district, who were victims of climate change and massive coastal erosion engulfing major areas of the seven villages here, are far from living a normal life.
These aggrieved villagers were later shifted and resettled at Bagapatia – a low lying area close to the troubled site. Unfortunately, even after almost two years of their settlement they are finding it difficult to retain normalcy due to several factors, most of which are administrative in nature.
A visit by this correspondent to the village Sunday revealed that the higher costs of house construction by the villagers owing to the depression area, lack of land pattas, loss of livelihood and absence of compensation for the losses due to climate change and other environmental issues have affected the lives of the resettled population at large.
“We were given land by the government in the new area for rehabilitation after we left Satabhaya villages due to coastal erosion. As the entire area is low lying, almost all household in this colony need to shell out anything between Rs 80,000-Rs 1.5 lakh to fill the area with soil before constructing our houses,” said Sirat Kumar Swain, a veteran from Bagapatia.
Swain also said that the amount the government gives them to construct homes are almost used in filling the low lying area itself and the expense of constructing the house is borne by the villagers who have no income now. Their lands, houses and other properties lie in the submerged villages at Satabhaya. The pre-requisites for land-filling have increased the cost of the house construction many folds.
However, the low lying area is not the only issue. Lack of distribution of pattas is another issue troubling the villagers. “We are yet to get land pattas and, thus, we do not enjoy any legal rights yet. We are likely to face legal issues for availing benefits of the government services and schemes if we do not get land pattas,” said Biranchi Prusty.
On the other side, many other villagers, who were earlier dependent on catching fish for their livelihood, have also suffered setbacks as many of them are now bound to buy the products from the market. On the other hand, many farmers have also lost their agriculture lands in the process. A lot of them still continue to visit their lost habitats at Satabhaya by boats, which are vulnerable to erosion to take care of their cattle and other properties they have left behind.
Climate experts claim that climatic factors which interfered with the sensitive coastal zones in Odisha also expedited the erosion process. Some suggest that the compensation and rehabilitation for the evacuees should be looked into by the government differently. “There is lack of specific policy for compensation for climate change refugees like in the case of Satabhaya victims. They should not get compensation like others. When resettlement of climate change victims occurs, they lose many things ranging from livelihood, land, farms and others. We need to have a dedicated policy for such victims,” Ranjan Panda, water activist and climate expert said.
He also added that there is need to recognise climate refugees in the global climate negotiation process and resources from mechanisms like Green Climate Fund should be used to provide comprehensive rehabilitation packages.