Out of the total length of 480 km of Odisha’s coastline, 60 km is covered in the Ganjam district. As many as 28 villages are located along the coast in the district with at least eight villages facing a threat due to rapid beach erosion from the Bay of Bengal.
Out of these, three are Podampeta, Gokhorokuda and Purunabandha in Ganjam Block, one is Arjeepalli in Chatrapur Block, while the other four are Patisunapur, Anantaraipur, Rameyapatana and Katuru in Chikiti Block. All these are mostly fishermen villages. Podampeta is in the northern end at the Rushikulya mouth and Ramayapatna is in the southern end at Bahuda river mouth, close to Srikakulaum district of Andhra Pradesh.
The beach was full of Casuarinas, cashew nut, coconut and Kewda plants which have almost vanished because of rampant deforestation, cyclonic storms and sea ingression. Earlier, there was also mangrove vegetation along the coast. The coast has been hit repeatedly by Super Cyclone in 1999, Phailin in 2013, Hudhud in 2014, Titli in 2018, Fani in 2019, Gulab in 2021 and recently, by Asani in May 2022.
Podampeta village with about 500 families is under Pali Bandha Panchayat. The villagers have been living in the dread of losing their land and livelihood as high tidal waves are fast creeping in towards the village eating the coast away. The sea surface always remains rough. Villagers on the coast are shifted to safer new locations at a distant place away from the sea. Even the Arjyapalli Marine Police Station and the Chhatrapur Police Station are likely to be shifted to new locations, because of the threat from the sea erosion. There have been several incidents of houses in Podampeta being washed away by the sea in recent years, because of beach erosion. The houses are crumbling like a pack of cards due to high tidal waves that are striking the village. In 2018 five families were put to sufferings after tidal waves washed away their houses. At least six houses were washed away by high tides recently on July 30 night. After the day’s incident, many villagers fear that their localities will be submerged under the sea in the coming years.
Similarly, in Rameyapatana, down south about 40 km away from Podampeta, till September 2019, 27 families have been worst hit, and there is a possibility of more houses being completely washed away if tidal waves hit the village further. In mid of August this year, five houses collapsed and 15 more houses are on the verge of collapsing as high tidal waves lashed the village.
Under the World Bank-aided Odisha Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP), cyclone-resilient houses have been provided to the villagers in two new sites named Podampeta ODRP-I and Podampeta ODRP-II. Under the ODRP programme, the villagers of Ramayapatna got houses at Chandbada Chowk, about 1.5 km away from their village. This fishermen village also has about about 500 families. All the families have not yet got the benefit in the rehabilitation colonies. Some of those who got did not like to shift to the new colony and stayed back in their respective villages. They prefer to stay close to the sea shore for convenience of fishing activities.
Among the measures, the State Irrigation Department has come up with a Rs 23 crore plan to build a boundary wall to protect the coastal villages from high tides in Podampeta area. To save their village from severe sea erosion, the villagers of Ramayapatna have started digging and clearing the Bahuda river mouth, by hiring excavators. Similarly, the Brahmapur Irrigation Division plans to dump stones along the Ramayapatna coast as an immediate measure. The State Government has a proposal to construct a one-meter-long wall near the beach, about 20 meters away, in order to protect the village from sea erosion. It will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 6.50 crore under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP).
Purunabandha villagers blame that their village has become prone to erosion due to the construction of wave breakers of Gopalpur port a few years ago. However, port authorities claimed that the construction of wave breakers has nothing to do with the erosion and a technical team which visited the area also stated the same in their report. Katuru panchayat villages who are facing erosion threat are demanding a proper geomorphologic study of the sea erosion phenomenon, and to construct guard wall to protect the beach from erosion. Ethically development of green belt with salt tolerant and cyclone resistant vegetation is best suited to protect the coast from erosion, in preference over engineering structures as long-term measure.
Coastal areas are of enormous socio-economic importance, because of marine fish and other resources, coastal biodiversity, tourist potential, commercial and residential development, and of late the sources of wave energy, off-shore mining and port development activities, etc. But the areas are vulnerable to cyclone and other natural hazards, global warming and sea-level rise, beach pollution and various anthropogenic activities not compatible with protection of coastal ecosystem. The Government of India has launched the ‘Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar’ (Clean Coast Safe Sea) campaign, a 75-day citizen-led programme for improving ocean health through collective action carried out at 75 beaches across the country with 75 volunteers for each kilometre of the coastline that started from July 5 and will end on September 17.