Homes & Hopes Razed, Bhopal Residents Stare at Bleak Future in Makeshift Tents

Decades-old colonies in MP's Bhopal were demolished in December 2022 for the new Bhopal-Ramganj Mandi railway line.

Decades-old colonies in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal were demolished on 12 and 13 December 2022 for the new Bhopal-Ramganj Mandi railway line.

(Photo: Vishnukant Tiwari/The Quint)

Hundreds of families living in some of Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal's decades-old colonies, including Annu Nagar, Arif Nagar and nearby colonies, were left homeless after a demolition drive carried out by Indian Railways in December 2022.  Two months on, the residents allege insensitivity and indifference by both the government and the administration. "My husband was heartbroken and hopeless after the railways demolished our house. Almost two months later, I have lost my husband, my house, and my sense of life altogether. My life has no colours left," said 45-year-old Prem Bai Vishwakarma, wife of Devilal Vishwakarma who allegedly died due to hypothermia after he was forced to sleep in a makeshift jhuggi (slum dwelling) post the demolition. 

Located half a kilometre away from the Union Carbide factory, these colonies were home to several residents belonging to families affected by the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy and its aftermath. 

A young child lies in a makeshift tent built over a cot using tarpaulin and torn clothes over the rubbles in Annu Nagar locality of Bhopal. As per a press note by West Central Railway, 347 jhuggis (slum dwellings) were demolished to clear passage for Bhopal-Ramganj Mandi railway line and the laying of Bhopal upline and loop line tracks. The child's house was one of them.

Arslan, who had just returned from his school at around 3:30 pm holding his bag over his shoulders and his sister Mayera's hand in his hand, walks by his old house. His mother Saira Bi told The Quint that she, along with her four children, has shifted to a rented room 100 metres away from their old house.

Saira Bi, 35, along with her kids Arslan and Mayera, sit over the rubble of what used to be her two-room house of brick and mortar. Post demolition, Saira Bi got a tent erected out of old posters, coincidentally showing both PM Narendra Modi and CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan endorsing a state scheme named Mukhyamantri Aawaseeya Bhoo-Adhikar Patr (Chief Minister Residential Land Right Letter).

West Central Railway's press note claimed that the local administration has allotted four acres of land for the rehabilitation of the affected families. However, around 150 families are allegedly still stranded, with nowhere to go. 

Ramlal Gop, 70, whose right side of the body is no good ever since he suffered a paralysis attack a few years ago, waits outside his tent built out of polythene over the rubble of his house demolished in December 2022. He told The Quint that since he can't do work and help his family of four kids and his wife, he waits outside of what used to be his home fearing that he might miss the officials if they come to provide some relief. 

For 50-year-old Afroz Jahan and her 17-year-old daughter Asma Khatun, the demolition served many other problems, including the loss of a permanent toilet.  Afroz said, "They crushed our home, and with it we lost the roof over our head and access to private toilets. We have young daughters. I myself am a woman... how should we deal with this problem which is a necessity? They have relocated us to 15*20 square feet of area where we have built a makeshift house but we can't build a toilet."

When The Quint visited the area where some families whose houses were demolished were allotted spaces to live, the residents told us that they don't have access to electricity, drinking water, or the toilets. All of them including children, women, and adults are forced to excrete in the open.

Rafeeq Shah, 38, who had built a separate room for his family beside his father's, now lives in a 15*20 square feet area covered by wood laden with tarpaulin sheets along with his extended family after the demolition. Rafeeq has little hopes of getting any relief.