Madhya Pradesh: Hundred families rendered homeless due to bulldozer action in Bhopal

Due to widening of Piplani Khajuri Road of the city, hundred houses of the slum were demolished. Know the reasons behind this action and the current situation of the affected.

Published on: 12 Mar 2024, 1:09 pm

Bhopal. “I was born here and got married here. I am 70 years old, my husband and daughter have died. I used to earn my living by sweeping and doing utensils in the houses of nearby people. In this colony I had a small room, there was a kitchen in it and I was living my old age there. On Sunday morning suddenly the police and administration people came and started demolishing the house. We kept crying and trying to stop them but they did not do anything to anyone. Listen, where will I go now at this age?

70-year-old Kokila Patil, a resident of Piplani Khajuri slum in Bhopal, tearfully shared her pain with The Mooknayak. In fact, in the presence of heavy police force, the Municipal Corporation and the District Administration bulldozed about a hundred slums from the 100 Quarter Road connecting Piplani to Khajuri. These have been removed due to road widening. People alleged that they were made homeless without any information. Whereas the administration says that action has been taken only on 84 slums.

The administration had banned the media during the action. It was stopped by barricading half a kilometer before the road. Apart from the administration, no one was allowed to come inside here. The team of The Mooknayak reached the spot, but by then the houses here had turned into piles of debris. Some people were taking out their household items. So some people were taking out bricks from the debris. People allege that the administration took action without any information, due to which they could not even take out the household items.

Last month itself, the administration had bulldozed 386 houses in the ugly slum of Bhopal. Now hundred houses of Piplani slum were demolished. Within the last two years, the administration razed the houses to the ground by running bulldozers on about half a dozen settlements of Bhopal, but these families were not displaced.

Talking to The Mooknayak, local resident Priyanka Jadhav said that she has been living at this place for years. The administration has taken this action without giving any notice. We were not even given time to remove our belongings from our homes. Priyanka said, “We were told that the road from here has to be widened, for which our houses will be demolished. We were ready to move from here. The administration and our MLA Krishna Gaur had said that before demolishing the house, we would have to move the house to another place or Land will be arranged. But we were neither given land nor houses, the administration used bulldozers and forced us to live on the streets.”

Another resident Shayda B said that exams of children are going on at this time. The administration is fully aware of this, yet the government did not show mercy to us even during the exam time of our children. Shaida said, “Modi’s guarantee was that no one would be made homeless. Today, under his government, we have lost the roof over our heads.”

Minister Gaur accused of breach of promise

On April 4, 2023, in the Bhoomi Pujan program of Khajuri Road in Bhopal, Krishna Gaur, the then MLA of Govindpura assembly seat and currently Minister of State in Dr. Mohan government, had made tempting promises to the slum dwellers. In his speech to these people living temporarily in slums, Krishna Gaur had said from the stage, “Your cooperation is needed in the construction of this road, we will not make anyone homeless. The government will provide houses in exchange for houses and shops in exchange for shops.” The shop will provide.”

Minister Gaur had promised the people that concrete arrangements would be made for their rehabilitation. The residents of the slum allege that when the bulldozer operation started, Krishna Gaur did not even pick up the phone.

Residents reached minister’s bungalow

After the bulldozer action on the slum, the residents of Khajuri Kala Road slum reached the bungalow of Minister Krishna Gaur on Tuesday, but they did not get any concrete assurance. Sunil, a slum resident, said that all of them had gone to the minister’s residence and asked him for rehabilitation at another place, but no satisfactory response was received from the minister. The Mooknayak representative called Minister Krishna Gaur on his mobile number to have a telephonic discussion, but the Minister did not receive the call.

Here, SDM Ravish Srivastava said that the road connecting Piplani to Khajuri is being widened. In this, about 84 slums were within the road limits, notices were sent to them. After this action was taken. All encroachments were removed by afternoon. We have temporarily shifted the families to BHEL quarters. We are also making arrangements for those who are left. “Whoever wants will be given houses under PM Awas Yojana as per rules.”