Madhya Pradesh: Encroachment notice served on 100-yr-old dharmshala in Bhikangaon

Bhikangaon (Madhya Pradesh): The local administration has identified a 100-year-old ‘Shiv-Dharmashala’ located on the Khandwa- Baroda state highway in Bhikangaon village of Khargone district as being developed on government land.   Arpit Jaiswal, a local resident had lodged a complaint on the CM helpline number on July 16, 2022, in which he had stated that 100-year-old Shiv Dharmashala’ which is situated in the middle of the town, is being operated by a private person. Taking cognisance of the matter, Tehsildar Dr Verma took disciplinary action.

Giving this information, Tehsildar said that as per the report prepared by Halka patwari and the revenue inspector, 3,600 sq ft Dharmashala’ has been found to be built on government land survey No 29/01/01. Apart from the dharmashala’, nine commercial shops were being operated on the land.   A notice will be issued to the dharmshala administrator and shopkeepers on Monday, seeking the removal of encroachment as they have failed to produce relevant documents. A penalty of Rs 1 lakh was also imposed on the Dharamshala administrator.

Under the Public Property Management Act, a joint committee of sub-registrar will be formed in order to conduct online auctions of the property. The administrator of the dharmshala Shrikrishna Agarwal said that relevant documents are not available as the dharmshala is over a century (100 years) old. A dharmshala committee which was formed years ago looks after renovation work being done in the building. Financial transactions related to the dharmshala are online and transparent through a dharmashala bank account. No encroachment-related notice has been received yet.