Rajasthan
Kotputli’s historic buildings razed to widen road, locals decry civic body claim | Jaipur News
Did an earthquake hit Kotputli recently? Well, the torn down structures along the main road of this newly created district town give an impression as if an earthquake took a toll on these centuries old buildings.
The fact, however, is different. The local civic body recently razed down portions of these buildings to widen the main road, as the town would house the headquarters of newly created Kotputli Behror district.
“The state government officially announced the new district two months ago.But the local civic body had already demolished portions of these buildings a year ago, in August 2022. We were told that this was being done to ensure the road was wide enough for the district headquarters,” said Shivkumar Bansal, whose building was also partially pulled down. He added, “I spent lakhs to construct a new shop on the ground floor and my house is still in a bad condition.”
Standing next to him, Kedar Bansal‘s condition is even worse. He had taken a portion of the ground floor on rent from Shivkumar to run his grocery store. Following the drive in August 2022, Shivkumar refused to rent him any portion as the size of his own shop got reduced. Kedar is unemployed now. “My dad had been running the store since the 1980s. We no longer have that shop,” said Kedar, who is now carrying out odd delivery jobs. He added, “The civic body widened the road stating that Kotputli would be the district headquarters but now we have learnt that the state government has allotted land in a village adjacent to the Haryana border to set up the mini secretariat for the newly formed Kotputli Behror district.”
Pushpa Saini, the Congress chairman of the Nagar Palika, said the road was widened not only because of the district headquarters factor but also because it could no longer handle the town’s present traffic. “We had seen the papers. Most of these buildings belonged to the Khetri rulers and were bought by the locals in the last 70-80 years. These buildings had crossed their usable limits as per the original plans,” she stated.
Former Congress chairman of the Nagar Palika and BSP candidate from Kotputli for this election, Prakash Saini, however, claimed that no plans govern these buildings.
“The history of these buildings dates back to almost 300 years. Even Swami Vivekananda had been to this place as a friend and state guest of the Khetri rulers. These were demolished simply because the local MLA Rajendra Yadav owns a school in the town. The road was not wide enough for his school buses to ply,” alleged Saini. Yadav was unavailable for a comment.
The fact, however, is different. The local civic body recently razed down portions of these buildings to widen the main road, as the town would house the headquarters of newly created Kotputli Behror district.
“The state government officially announced the new district two months ago.But the local civic body had already demolished portions of these buildings a year ago, in August 2022. We were told that this was being done to ensure the road was wide enough for the district headquarters,” said Shivkumar Bansal, whose building was also partially pulled down. He added, “I spent lakhs to construct a new shop on the ground floor and my house is still in a bad condition.”
Standing next to him, Kedar Bansal‘s condition is even worse. He had taken a portion of the ground floor on rent from Shivkumar to run his grocery store. Following the drive in August 2022, Shivkumar refused to rent him any portion as the size of his own shop got reduced. Kedar is unemployed now. “My dad had been running the store since the 1980s. We no longer have that shop,” said Kedar, who is now carrying out odd delivery jobs. He added, “The civic body widened the road stating that Kotputli would be the district headquarters but now we have learnt that the state government has allotted land in a village adjacent to the Haryana border to set up the mini secretariat for the newly formed Kotputli Behror district.”
Pushpa Saini, the Congress chairman of the Nagar Palika, said the road was widened not only because of the district headquarters factor but also because it could no longer handle the town’s present traffic. “We had seen the papers. Most of these buildings belonged to the Khetri rulers and were bought by the locals in the last 70-80 years. These buildings had crossed their usable limits as per the original plans,” she stated.
Former Congress chairman of the Nagar Palika and BSP candidate from Kotputli for this election, Prakash Saini, however, claimed that no plans govern these buildings.
“The history of these buildings dates back to almost 300 years. Even Swami Vivekananda had been to this place as a friend and state guest of the Khetri rulers. These were demolished simply because the local MLA Rajendra Yadav owns a school in the town. The road was not wide enough for his school buses to ply,” alleged Saini. Yadav was unavailable for a comment.
