21K safe houses planned in cyclone zone

BERHAMPUR: The Ganjam district administration has identified 21,883 kuccha houses in 113 villages, located within 5 km of the seashore and prone to cyclone and sea erosion.
The families would be rehabilitated in concrete houses at safer places under the 'post-cyclone housing re-construction project', supported by the World Bank.
The villages considered "unsafe" include 23 in four panchayats of Ganjam block, 37 villages in 10 panchayats in Rangeilunda, 10 villages in five panchayats of Chikiti, 31 villages in six panchayats in Khallikote and 10 villages in five panchayats of Chhatrapur.Besides, families will also be shifted from Ganjam, Gopalpur and Rambha notified area councils, official sources said.
At a meeting in Chhatrapur, additional chief secretary TaraDutt asked the administration to identify government land near villages for construction of concrete houses. In case of non-availability of land, private ones can be acquired.
The government has submitted a proposal to the World Bank to construct around 30,000 concrete houses in Ganjam and Puri with its assistance.
Taradutt also asked the administration to motivate people to shift to safer places, where the government would construct houses for them. "We need to talk to them as villagers may not agree to leave their homes," he said.
The additional chief secretary visited the two sites at New Podampeta for 107 families and Kirtipur to rehabilitate 1,007 families from New Golabandh.