Kendrapada: The Kharosotra and Bramhani rivers are steadily swallowing villages in Kendrapada district, forcing mass displacement and destroying livelihoods in Aul and Rajkanika blocks.
Over the past five decades, these marching rivers have already consumed 12 villages, leaving behind stories of loss and despair. “Our village Jayakunda was completely erased from the map two decades ago when the Kharosotra river gradually consumed 558 acres of land,” said Kaliprasad Nayak, a retired school teacher, who now resides in Kalikapur.
The crisis continues to worsen. In Pandurikoli village, the Bramhani river has already claimed 90% of the land. “Only a small portion of our village remains, and soon that too will be submerged,” said Nalinikanta Behera, a 65-year-old fisherman.
Personal accounts paint a grim picture. Mahendra Patra of Ichapur village lost his three-room thatched house to the Kharosotra just six months ago. In Bijaynagar, Rajendra Mallick became landless after losing two acres to the river five years ago.
The impact extends beyond housing. “We lost our farmland a decade ago, and now the Bramhani river is merely 200 metres from our house,” says Brajakishor Rout of Bajapur village, highlighting the villagers’ dilemma of having nowhere to go.
“The erosion has not just taken their homes but their traditional ways of life,” said former Aul MLA Debendra Sharma
Local authorities claimed they are addressing the issue. “We have completed stone-packing works in some riverside villages and plan to extend it to other affected areas once we receive govt funding,” said Umesh Sethi, superintending engineer of the irrigation department.
Additional district magistrate Nilu Mohapatra said the administration recently formulated plans to protect erosion-hit villages through stone-packing works.
However, for villagers like Ranjan Behera of Taladiha, these measures may be too late. ” Failure to construct stone-packed river embankments has already led to massive destruction. The Kharosotra has moved hundreds of metres in just the last decade,” he said.