Odisha’s First Self-Sustainable Ecovillage Comes Up On Foothills Of Satkosia

Bhubaneswar: A first-of-its-kind eco-village in the state has been set up in Muduligadia village of Nayagarh district alongside Satkosia gorge region, just 2 km from Badmul Sands Resort & Nature Camp Ecotourism project. Nestled on the bank of River Mahanadi, this village in Odisha has adopted the concept of eco village to have minimum impact on the environment and improve sustainable living.

Villagers here were accustomed to using fire wood for cooking, open defecation, river water for drinking, bathing, washing, etc. The success of Badmul project has led to all 35 households in the village having LPG gas and piped water connections.

Forest conservation is at its peak as well, with zero fires and no poaching in the last three years.

The other highlights of the project are:

1. “No Litter” policy is being followed in the village. Villagers are using 12 common public dustbins instead of throwing garbage directly into the river or on the roads.
2. Open defecation has stopped. Toilets have been constructed and water connectivity to each toilet is also available now.
3. The community has uprooted weeds within and on the periphery of the village and replaced it with grass.
4. Cow dung is used for farming instead of chemical fertilisers.
5. Plastic free concept is being applied here.
6. All the houses have been repaired and made tourist friendly with colourful verandahs and wall paintings done by the villagers themselves. Trees and roads have been well decorated for welcoming tourists.
7. A common puja place for the entire village overlooking the mountains of Satkosia has been developed.

Each household has been earning an average of Rs 15,000 per month since the inception of the project. This has transformed their lives. Earlier, the villagers used to collect and sell forest produce for their livelihood, president of the project Sumanta Das said.

Women with low education are also actively participating in the decision-making process of the ecotourism project.

This project is the only model in India where the entire revenue generated from ecotourism projects goes to the community as their wages and the rest is ploughed back for management of these nature camps.