Climate Change: Ghost Villages Of Odisha Left To Fend For Themselves

Climate Change: Ghost Villages Of Odisha Left To Fend For Themselves

Climate change has now taken the shape of climate emergency, if latest developments are to be taken into account. While the whole world is waking up to the disastrous consequences of climate change only now, people of Satabhaya, a coastal village in Kendrapara district, have faced its wrath for the past four decades. 

Satabhaya, which refers to the seven villages once in existence, was the most prosperous village with its economy revolving around agriculture and fishing. According to tehsil records, the villages, which spread across 875.16 acres of land, were named Sanagahiramatha, Mohanpur, Habeli Chintamanipur, Gobindpur, Kaduanasi, Saheb Nagar and Paramanandapur.

But sea erosion which started in 1960 compelled the inhabitants to move inland and form five new villages – Kanhupur, Satabhaya, Barahipur, Rabindrapalli and Magarakanda. Satabhaya was the Gram Panchayat headquarters. Of the five villages, only Satabhaya remains while Kanhupur disappeared in 2011. The Government rehabilitated people of these areas in Bagapatia.

Bagapatia is probably the first climate refugee village in India where around 600 families from Satabhaya have been rehabilitated. The government formed the colony five years ago for the people displaced by coastal erosion.

However, life for the people in Bagapatia is not easy. The Government provided 10 decimal land to each family to construct their houses. Water and electricity connections have been provided as well.  For children’s education, the old school from Satabhaya has been moved to Bagapatia. But the major challenge for people is to build their homes. Since the area once had shrimp gheries owned by Kanika King, the families have to fill the provided land with trucks of soil to raise the ground level. The refilling of land costs more than one lakh while government has provided only Rs 1.25 lakh to each family in phases under Mo Kudia Yojana which is not sufficient for the families who lost everything.   

Khirad Kumar Swain (60), shifted to Bagapatia from Satabhaya three years ago. Like others, he also received 10 decimal land where he built a temporary house in a small portion to stay and is simultaneously building a concrete house. He owned farming lands in Satabhaya, as farming was his primary occupation. “The Bagapatia area had numerous shrimp gherries, because of which the land had numerous ponds. To build our house, we had to refill the land with trucks of soil. It cost us around Rs 90 thousand to refill the land upto five feet. The Government is giving money in phases. So far, I have received only Rs 25000 with which I constructed the pillars. We had to arrange money to complete the house which will take more time,” said Swain.

Though government has given 10 decimal land to each family, the villagers are yet to get land pattas. “The Government has assured the villagers about land pattas, but we are yet to receive it. Unless they give land pattas to us, we are not sure about ownership of the land. In the absence of land pattas, in future, the government may displace us,” said Swain.

According to Swain, since 1971, Satabhaya has been facing the wrath of the sea at regular intervals. “Frequent cyclones affected the whole area nearby Satabhaya. Sea water used to enter the farming land which often resulted in no crops in that particular year and then gradually sea erosion took away everything. There were seven villages then, and now only a few portions of Satabhaya remain which will vanish soon, like the others.”

Biranchi Prusti (57) and his wife Bharati Prusti from Satabhaya, now settled in Bagapatia, shared a similar story. Biranchi had one acre of land in Satabhaya where he used to do farming along with other jobs. Four years ago, he moved to Bagapatia and constructed a house in the land provided to him by the government. But without any source of income, it is difficult to sustain in Bagapatia. “I used to do farming, but now I work as a labour. If the government could provide us some land, we could sustain with farming,” said Biranchi.

Sharing about their days in Satabhaya, an emotional Bharati said, “Satabhaya was the best place to stay. It was a fertile land. Whatever you would plant there, it would grow and give good amount of fruits. We used to grow Nilabati rice which was similar to Basmati.” 

Like Biranchi, Biprava Jena, another villager, is also dissatisfied with the government help. “The government provided us Rs 1.25 lakh which is not sufficient here as we had to spend one lakh to refill the land. Moreover the authorities failed to provide us any livelihood option, without which we can’t sustain.”

Lack of livelihood option is also forcing people to move back to their old village which provides them with, at least, fishing as a means to sustain. Sarat Jena frequently visits Satabhaya to catch fish in the hope of earning money by selling those. “The sea took away everything we had. Two years ago, I migrated to Bagapatia, the new settlement area. There is no source of income, so twice  a week I visit Satabhaya for fishing.” 

There are 60 families who continue to stay in Satabhaya. They are not willing to migrate to Bagapatia because of lack of livelihood options while there are some who own livelihood stocks like cows and buffaloes but continue to stay in Satabhaya due to lack of grazing fields in Bagapatia. 

“There is nothing to do in Bagapatia. We are not alone here. There are 60 other families who are staying here, with their animals, ” informed Ameresh Samal.

Karunakar Behera, a boat man ferries people to Satabhaya via a small creek even though the creek inhabits crocodiles. “People still visit Satabhaya to look after their farmland and fishing. From early morning to late evening, I stay here near the river and ferry people to the other side.”

According to experts, climate change refugees need to be recognised and provided with comprehensive rehabilitation packages. “The case of Satabhaya is completely different from other cases of rehabilitation. Bagapatia should be recognised as a climate change refugee settlement area as it has been established for the people affected by the coastal sea erosion in Satabhaya. It’s a global responsibility,” said water activist and climate chnage expert Ranjan Panda.

Stating that the compensation should be different for these people, Panda said, “These people lost everything they had. Along with land for building their houses, there need to be proper plans in place to provide them with proper livelihood option. The Government should come up with a better policy for them and allocate more funds. Forests rights should be given to villagers to enable them to utilise all the forest produces. They should also be provided with crop land.” 

Speaking about Green Climate Fund, Panda said, “United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has established Green Climate Fund which helps to combat Climate change and its victims. The Government should look for international funding.”