A notice was issued by Rajesh Patel, Assistant Divisional Engineer (north) of West Central Railway, Satna on September 4, 2020 about an illegal shack built on railway land abutting the Kaima Station, in Raghurajnagar tehsil, Satna district, Madhya Pradesh, about 450 kilometers from its state capital Bhopal. It said that by September 18, that encroachment that belonged to a tribal settlement, had to go. If not, the notice further stated, the land would be taken by force and the cost of the eviction would have to be borne by the defaulter. 

“The tribal settlement of Kaima Unmulan is on railway land. As the Satna-Rewa rail doubling work is in progress, the encroachments are being removed. One hundred and ninety four homeowners were given notices, and we have also given them another 30 days’ grace to leave. Thereafter, action will be taken to remove the encroachment,” Rajesh Patel, assistant divisional engineer (north) of West Central Railway, explained to Gaon Connection.

Predictably the notices received by several inhabitants, have thrown the tribal settlement into a panic.  

“These people have no place to go to. Some of them have been living here for 50 years. We will try and relocate them, but they must be provided alternative dwelling, land and money as compensation,” said Ramlali, the sarpanch of Kaima Unmulan village. 

Kaima Unmulan village falls under the Sohawal Janpad panchayat of Satna district and has a population of about 2,000 a part of which lives in the tribal settlement that faces eviction. The Indian railways has served the inhabitants a notice thrice already. 

“Our tenement in the village was established  in 1970 and we have been living here since then. Some of our families have been here for two generations. How can we suddenly leave? The railway track was laid after our settlement came into being. How can occupying the land be illegal,” Durgesh Chaudhary, who had received the notices, told Gaon Connection.

Many of the villagers refuse to accept that they are ‘illegal’ occupants of the land. “The railway line was laid through the village in 1984. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi laid its foundation stone. We have been living here since 1970. Tell us then, who would be illegal—us or the railways,” asked 72-year-old Ram Sevak Chaudhary, one of the people who received the eviction notice.  

Hundreds of people from the tribal settlement thronged the collectorate on September 16,  to give a memorandum to the collector,  Ajay Katesariya, and demand help from him.  The memorandum states that the tribal settlement was set up on the araji (holdings) nos. 122, 123 and 124, on 5 May 1970, following an oral order of the then collector, and the sarpanch  of Lalpur, Ranbahadur Singh. The foundation stone of Satna-Rewa railway line came much later in 1984. A few houses that were in the way of the railway line were subsequently removed and the people relocated and adequately compensated. But otherwise the settlement continued to exist, undisturbed.

“We poor wanderers and we were given this land to settle down and assured at that time that we won’t be ever driven away or evicted from here,” Sukwariya Devi, 95 years old, told Gaon Connection.  

Meanwhile, the residents of the colony have demanded they be assured of alternative home/land and compensation. They say they are happy to leave the area. “If this colony is built on the railway land, it should be demolished. But we must be rehabilitated. Only then, will we move. We are ready to die here otherwise,” Chaudhary said, adding, “After all, we are also the citizens of this country and need a shelter over our heads.” 

The  digital map of Kaima Unmulan village is not available in the official government website of Madhya Pradesh land records.  There is no record of araji no 122, on which part of the settlement is located. There are only records of a few sub divisions either owned by individuals or are under the Madhya Pradesh government, according to the website of the  commissioner of land records and settlement, Madhya Pradesh,  

There are records to show that the Madhya Pradesh government owns 4.1240 hectares of land under araji No. 123. Again, no data is available on araji number 124 either. The subdivisions 124/1 of 3.2200 hectares and 124/2 of 0.4050 hectares are the property of the Madhya Pradesh government. The question that remains unanswered is then who owns araji numbers 122 and 124?

“The proposal of land for these villagers is being worked out, and subsequent orders will be issued in the coming days,” Prabha Shankar Tripathi, the sub-divisional magistrate of Raghurajnagar, assured Gaon Connection.