BALASORE: Just 100 metres from the sea, they dread the hungry tidal waves. Gokul Jena with his six-member family in Chandrabali village in Bhogarai block panics every minute.Around 200 people belonging to 35 families in the village are living in the fear of losing their home and hearth as the waves have already breached at several places and uprooted thousands of casuarina plants to enter the coastal villages.Villagers of Duttapur said nearly 350 huts of fishermen on the coast have been washed away while more than 20 boats and two fishing jetties were damaged. On Thursday, Sarmistha Pradhan (10) was rescued from the jaws of death after she was swept away by a nearly 20 feet high tide.Besides Chandrabali, the waves also threaten Gambharia, Kumbhargadi, Narayanmahantipadia, Sahapur, Udaypur and Talasari in Bhogarai block, nearly a lakh people in about 50 villages in Jaleswar, Baliapal, Remuna, Sadar, Soro and Bahanga blocks of Balasore district and Basudevpur and Chandabali blocks of Bhadrak district. Jena, a farmer, said last year the waves had eaten into around 700 meters of the coast and damaged agricultural lands of nearly 400 acres in their village. “Now danger has reached the doorsteps with the sea only 100 meters from our village,” he said.Coastal villages in Balasore and Bhadrakdistricts could face the fate of erosion that the villagers at Pentha and Satabhaya in Kendrapara district and Penthakota in Puri had to bear.Though the State Government has already identified 328 coastal villages as tsunami-prone, no concrete steps have yet been taken to protect these habitations from the tidal ingression. These villages are however situated within 15 km of the sea and spread over 22 blocks of six coastal districts. Environmentalists expressed concern over the volume of damage to be caused by the tidal ingression. “It’s just the beginning. The coastal villages in Orissa are becoming dangerous by the day. Frequent low pressures and erratic behaviour of the sea will pose more threats to the residents in coming days,” warned environmentalist Prasanta Padhi. People expressed displeasure that though the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project is being implemented in Orissa, coastal Balasore has been excluded from it. They alleged that the irrigation department also turned a deaf ear to their demands. While a proposal of Rs. 4.46 crore for the construction of sea wall is gathering dust, no work has been started for the stone bound project worth around ` 4 crore for which the Chief Minister had laid the foundation stone in March. Meanwhile, a team of irrigation officials led by executive engineer Pranabandhu Panda visited the affected villages in Bhogarai. Panda said sand bags have been used to pack the breached sea embankments.
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