Daringbadi: Kumbaripadar, a remote and inaccessible village of Hatimunda panchayat under Daringbadi block in Kandhamal district, was hit by landslides twice in September and October this year following heavy rains. As the village is on a hilly slope, it is invariably vulnerable to landslides.
Hence, the district administration has taken a decision to relocate the residents of the village to another place. According to reports, with the effort of the district administration, a team of geologists and experts visited the area and examined the soil, sand, and stone the area.
After the soil testing at Berhampur, they came to know that the area is prone to potentially dangerous landslides. Keeping this in view, the administration has initiated the process to rehabilitate them elsewhere. Meanwhile, people of nearby villages such as Tamangi, Pidikaripi, Dasangsahi, and Kasapanka have become apprehensive of landslides during future monsoons. Hundreds of people from these four villages have urged the administration to relocate them to somewhere safe. They even submitted a memorandum to the district administration through the tehsildar in this regard. Later, they visited the block office and submitted a copy of the memorandum to BDO Gadadhar Patra. “We are worried about the lurking danger to our existence. We plead with the administration to shift us to safe places as soon as possible,” they said.
Contacted, the BDO informed of having received a memorandum in this regard, but it all depends on the decision of the district administration. The residents of the four villages said that they will forward copies of the memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC, Berhampur), Baliguda Sub-Collector, Kandhamal SP, Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC), Kandhamal MP, MLA, Brahmanigaon IIC, and the block chairperson.
