Bargarh/Ambabhona: Hundreds of people in Ambabhobna block of Bargarh district have to face displacement again. This time around, the displacement is going to bring more miseries for them, a report said.
According to reports, due to Hirakud reservoir, people of four village like Rengali, Kurumkel, Bhuthili and Balijori had been displaced. These villages are located near the reservoir.
However, these villages were identified as part of an eco-sensitive zone December 10, 2015. In 1985, an area of 353 square km of Chaladhara and Debrigarh forests in Bargarh district was declared as a sanctuary.
The area was later considered a wildlife conservation project. In 2017, as many as 46 families in Debrigarh and Jhagadabehera villages were displaced in the first phase.
The above-said four villages have been identified as a buffer zone of the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the forest department has started relocating people after organising a palli sabha in the area.
It has declared a compensation package for the people. The administration has assured people that they would be rehabilitated at Chakramal. Villagers are worried that they have no way but to leave their home and hearth in a few days.
Worried over displacement, Megharam Thekua of Kurumkel, said, “Displacement is more horrible than natural disasters like floods and cyclones. What will happen in future is haunting us every day. What will happen to our livelihood? We have lost our sleep. We were displaced earlier. Again we will be displaced.”
Expressing concern over the displacement, Ganapati Dharua, another resident of Kurumkel, said they were displaced by Hirakud reservoir in 1948.
“Many of us have not yet received compensation as declared then. After the displacement, we had to walk miles in forests and finally settled here. Again, we will be displaced. It is very painful,” he noted.
Social activist Amitabh Patra said before the displacement, the government had declared to provide 10 decimals of land for houses in 1948. Land has not been provided till date, he added.
Patra also demanded that people facing displacement be provided with 20 decimals of land. Under the Odisha Livelihood Mission, all displaced people should be ensured scope of livelihood, he observed.
PNN