Bolangir: Being evicted from one’s ancestral land is a harrowing ordeal that is beyond description. However, there are some people who are subjected to this trauma more than once in their lifetime.
Girija Panda, a septuagenarian woman of Banchhorpali village in Bolangir district, is one such person who is set to be displaced from her land for the second time.
“I’m still to get out of the trauma of being evicted from the land of my forefathers at the age of nine. Now, in the twilight of my life, I’m again faced with the prospect of being forced out of my land. Death would be better compared to the life of an oustee, and that too at my age,” Girija said, choking back tears.
Narrating her first experience of being evicted from her land, the elderly woman said she was all of nine years old when she was ousted from her native place in Sanpalahara village about six decades back in order to make way for the establishment of the Hirakud dam.
Having lost both of her parents at a tender age, Girija left the village and lived with her sister in a rented house in Sambalpur. After staying with her for some years, she got married to forest guard Benudhar Panda of Gadashankar Dunguripali village under Loisingha block in Bolangir district at the age of 16. Later, the couple shifted to Banchhorpali village.
Now with a family of her own – a husband and three children – she tried to overcome her trauma of being displaced and attempted at beginning her life afresh. That was not to be, as her husband died in 1983 leaving her to take care of their children all by herself.
Now, Girija said she was looking forward to a quiet life by herself after having married off her three children, but the eviction ordeal again reared its head making life miserable for her in her old age.
The state government launched the Lower Suktel Irrigation Project, a major irrigation scheme proposed across the river Suktel (a tributary of river Tel), a major right tributary of river Mahanadi in 2001. The dam site is set to submerge 29 villages including Banchhorpali. Despite strong protests by the soon-to-be land losers, the dam construction is progressing at a brisk pace.
After losing her home and hearth six decades back, Girija’s health is now on the decline due to acute stress. Her blood pressure is on the upswing, exacerbated by a constant fear of again being forced to vacate her home.
When this reporter met her to talk to her about her predicament, Girija broke down and began sobbing uncontrollably, stating that she did not want to relive the trauma she had been through as a child. Recalling how many people lost their sanity after being forced to vacate their land, Girija said she feared a rerun of the entire nightmarish episode.
“Words fail me when I think of what will happen to the future of my family. Eviction from one’s land is more painful than death,” Girija said.
Suktel area is a gift of Nature to the state and submersion of the area can never be acceptable to us, she added. Hectares of farmland in the region can be irrigated with construction of check dams instead of a major dam. The government stands to make more loss than gain if a prosperous area like this is made to go under water, the woman added.
As a member of an anti-dam outfit Lower Suktel Budianchal Sangram Parishad, she confronted police on several occasions and raised her voice against dislocation. Apart from encouraging villagers to fight the eviction, Girija sought some crucial answers from the officials. However, she never got a satisfactory reply. Girija is set to lose 45 acres of highly productive farmland along with 150 mahua trees.
Can the government provide her this huge patch of agriculture land, trees and a prosperous village like Banchhorpali, Girija asked.The unusual displacement tale of Girija, who has promised to fight the project till her last breath, is being discussed in the villages of cut-off regions. PNN