Keonjhar: Scores of people earmarked for displacement by the Kanpur mega irrigation project being executed at Basudevpur in Keonjhar district have received their compensation long ago, but are reluctant to leave their villages.
People of Dhobakuchuda say they want to die in the land of their forefathers. “We share a deep relationship with nature, hilly terrains and farmlands over generations. Leaving the place for elsewhere due to an irrigation project is heartbreaking for us,” many villagers said.
The thought that the day will finally come when they will no longer be able to stay in the village is terrifying for them. “Money cannot buy us the happiness we get from living in our native place. Despite our hardships here, we knew that this is our home,” the villagers said.
“We used to feed our families with forest produce and doing agriculture for generations. We are really sad at leaving behind our native land,” said 75-year old Trilochan Nayak.
He added that the construction work is on. “We want to stay at least till the work is over,” he said. About a thousand people live in the village.
“The money we have got will be spent. But the homestead land and farmlands in such an atmosphere will never be available to us. The camaraderie with which we all had been bound together will never be possible at the new place,” lamented Daka Munda.
The villagers will be rehabilitated at Naradpur. “Now we worry about how much we will have to adjust with at the new place. The fear of leaving back our native place always haunts us. We had never thought in our wildest dreams that we would have to leave this land one day,” said Bandhu Munda.
The elderly are more upset over relocating to the new settlement than the younger generation. “We live in the midst of nature, surrounded by fruit orchards and the cacophony of birds. Even the occasional forays of elephants were a delight,” the villagers said, adding that though the elephants are sometimes a menace, they would rather prefer to live with that than going to a place bereft of all this. PNN
