Rajnagar: Over 10 families had to be shifted from seaside Satabhaya village to Bagapatia here in Kendrapara district Tuesday after their houses in the new settlement were submerged following incessant rainfall over the last five days.
The affected villagers are 10 out of the 571 families of Satabhaya village who were shifted to Bagapatia before the rainy season after the tidal waves washed away a major portion of their village.
Some of the affected villagers were identified as Brajabandhu Lenka, Pratap Swain, Sarbeshwar Mallick, Kulamani Das, Biranchi Prusty, Dhirendra Prusty, Nakul Das, Nilamani Das and Sarbeshwar Rout in the village.
They were demanding relocation to a safer place when the state government acceding to their request decided to rehabilitate them at Bagapatia village under the block. The government in 2011 launched a `100 crore project to rehabilitate the villagers.
However, the villagers were shocked after the place where they were rehabilitated was submerged under rainwater.
The rainwater entered houses where they had been rehabilitated making it impossible for them to stay inside with their family members. They claimed their houses getting submerged in rainwater is like falling from the frying pan into the fire. They alleged that the water logging occurred due to faulty road construction and lack of drainage facilities in the area.
Satabhaya village has made headlines as every year with the arrival of monsoon an overwhelming feeling of fear grips the villagers as chances of further erosion of their village by tidal waves intensify. PNN
