Orissa govt to rehabilitate Satbhayaya residents facing sea erosion

Bhubaneswar, Aug 12 (UNI) The Orissa government today directed the Kendrapara district Collector to identify land for rehabilitation of around 500 families of Satabhaya and Kahnupur villages in Kendrapara district threatened by sea erosion.

Official sources here said the collector was asked to select the site after consulting the people of both the villages.

Each of the families would be provided with two acre of land, ten decimal of homestead land and a house under the Indira Awas yojana.

The sources said the villagers could not be rehabilitated in Magarkanda, a place inside the Bhitarkania sanctuary, about three km away from Satabhaya due to some legal problem.

The place was earlier identified but the villagers could not be rehabilitated there as the land belonged to the Forest department.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the government was taking the opinion of the experts and the scientists to deal with the problem of sea erosion at Chilika and in other coastal areas.

An expert team from the IIT, Chennai, was arriving here on August 21 to assess the situation and give their opinion. The government would take necessary action after it received the report of the experts, Mr Patnaik said.

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