The administration in Bhopal has demolished 50 houses and other structures in the Nariyal Kheda area following a High Court order. The residents who had been living in the area for almost half a decade claimed that they were not given prior notice, leaving them without shelter within a matter of a few hours.
“They announced at night that everyone had to vacate their homes by morning because the houses would be demolished. How can people suddenly leave like that? Where are they supposed to go with so little time?” a local resident said speaking to FoEJ Media.
“Our entire life’s savings were invested in these homes. They were our source of livelihood, and now everything has been destroyed,” he said.
“Everything people had was destroyed. There were families where a woman had given birth just five days ago, yet they were also forced to leave. There were even people who had suffered paralysis and had to be carried out of their homes,” the local resident claimed.
Furthermore, they said that had the administration given them adequate time, they could have presented their documents and put forward the case before the concerned authorities.
The demolition drive was carried out in the presence of police deployment in compliance with a 1992 civil court decree under the supervision of Priyanka Mishra. The case revolves around the legal battle of landowner Upasana Johri, who said, and E.TV Bharat reported, “My father-in-law, retired judge Bhagwan Das Sahay, purchased 78 decimals of land in Nariyal Kheda in 1955. The land was purchased in the name of my son, Avinash Johri. After purchasing the land, wire fencing was installed around it, and he remained in possession of the property until 1991. However, land mafias had been attempting to occupy the property in collusion with the local administration since 1988. We approached the district court against the encroachment in 1992, where we obtained a stay order and won the case. At that time, the patwari manipulated our Khasra number and showed a larger area as being under the land ceiling.”
Meantime, the local residents say that apart from the property documents, they also possess documents like electricity bills and water bills and property tax payments. They claim that they have been living in the area for past 40 years.
Four machines were used to demolish the structures despite the protest by the residents. Anger remains spiraling among the residents refusing to remove the belongings from the demolished sites.
“When the house has been demolished, what can a person even do with their belongings? Their homes have been destroyed, and they are saying that they should take the belongings too. What will they do by keeping them?” a local said speaking to FoEJ Media.
