It is a race against time, and tide, for C.H. Paindi, a resident of the Podampatta village on the coast of Odisha. Once a village that thrived with 100s of people, she is the only one left today.
Coastal Odisha is slowly being swallowed by the sea.
Almost half of Odisha’s coast—196 km of shoreline—has undergone erosion between 1990 and 2015. Since 2015, tides have been getting more aggressive by the day. Data from the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management shows that 74 villages in the state are severely affected by shoreline erosion—the highest in the country.
The government is well aware of the crisis and has been implementing measures to stabilise select areas of the state’s coastline since 2012. In Podampetta, So far, the sea has engulfed 200 houses. The remaining 100 houses stand in a dilapidated condition, giving Podampeta the eerie look of a ghost village. The government allotted 3 lakh rupees per family for relocating and constructing a new house. But for CH Paindi, who has a family of 7, the 3 lakh rupees is merely anything.