Bhaukhedi: More than 180 homes demolished for a road, no compensation offered

As you enter Bhaukhedi Village situated in Ichhawar Tehsil, 52 km from Bhopal city, you see the debris of broken houses everywhere.

A 52-foot road is being constructed from the center of the village to connect Ichhawar directly with the Indore-Bhopal highway.

Due to this road, about 180 houses have been demolished on the grounds of illegal encroachment. The administration has also refused to give compensation to the people living here for years. People whose houses have been demolished are demanding justice, but they are not being heard.

Homeless in the old age

72-year-old Devkaran used to live with his wife in a 2-room house, their children do not stay with them. Recently he had got a toilet built in his house with government help. When the bulldozer came to raze his house, the toilet was also demolished.

Devkaran says that "We have only one room left, we have put our belongings in it, and there is no place left even to sit there. When did I ask the SDM, 'where we would live now?' He said we do not know all that, we have to make 52 feet road. Your house is in an illegal place so it will be demolished."

Devkaran was expecting compensation, but he says with teary eyes that "SDM sir has said that he will not get compensation."

Firoza Bi, who lives in Bhaukhedi Village with her small children and her husband who is sick, told Ground Report, “We have been paying taxes here for years, and paying all kinds of bills, Suddenly our house has been declared illegal. Where do we go with our children now?"

The administration has put a red mark on all the houses, as far as the houses are to be demolished. People themselves are getting their houses demolished so that the rest of the house does not get damaged in the demolition drive. People are spending up to 30-50 thousand on demolition, a cost which the villagers themselves are bearing.

PM awas also demolished

Sunil Verma, a resident of the village, says that "I got my house constructed last year with the money received under PM Awas. When the administration came to demolish our house, we showed them the papers of PM Awas and also asked If the place was illegal, then how was the PM's house built on it. On this, the SDM said that 'it is the village secretary's fault, we can't do anything about it."

Similarly, Suresh Jain, who lives in front of the Ram temple in the village, had his entire house demolished, Suresh explains that "to save the temple, the road was shifted towards his house, in which his entire house came under encroachment." He is living with his family in a room in the Anganwadi. There is no toilet facility there. We had built our house a few years ago with the money from the cottage we got under PM Awas."

Suresh Jain's wife says that she wants a house for the house, and until the compensation is received, she will not allow the road work to proceed.

All the people of the village are angry and demanding compensation, they say that they have been living at this place for generations, and how suddenly their own house became illegal, is beyond comprehension.

The villagers say that "there was an option to build the road from outside the village, even after that the road was planned inside the village."

The people of Bhaukhedi are currently helping each other, they are not getting any help from the Sarpanch of the village. Along with the MLA from the area, Karan Singh Verma has also turned away from the people here.

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