1971 war veteran struggles to get his 3-marla plot regularised

Rajesh Sharma

UNA, DECEMBER 26

A 1971 Indo-Pak war veteran, Bhagat Ram of Santoshgarh village in Una district, is forced to run from pillar to post to regularise a three-marla plot. The plot was allotted to him in 1972 in the Santoshgarh Municipal Committee (MC) area under the Jai Jawan stall scheme of the Union Government, meant for war casualty personnel.

On December 14, 1971, Bhagat Ram, then a 28-year-old sepoy in the 54th Battalion of the Border Security Force was three km into Pak territory on a forward observation post, somewhere in the Shakargarh area. In the heat of the battle, a burst from a Pakistani machine gun hit his lower limbs. He somehow managed to crawl back towards the Indian border.

Bhagat Ram said after spending about 11 months in various military hospitals, he was categorised ‘unfit’ and discharged from service with a meager pension of Rs 80 per month. A recipient of Samar Star 1965, Paschim Star, Independence Medal 1972, Sangram Medal and Wound Medal, Bhagat Ram said upon communications received from the Director General of Resettlement of the Armed and Para Military forces, Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary, the state General Administration department and Una Deputy Commissioner, he was allotted a three-marla plot in Santoshgarh nagar panchayat, now a MC vide the latter’s resolution.

Bhagat Ram said he spent about Rs 55,000 to construct a shop with fixtures for vending tea. “Those were tough times and I could not even afford money for the education of my five children,” he said. A few years later, some local persons got eviction orders, against which he had to approach the court of law, he added.

In 1999, the Una District Judge passed orders in Bhagat Ram’s favour and later, the Himachal Pradesh High Court ordered that Bhagat Ram be allowed to retain the piece of land under his shop after paying the market price to the MC.

He said the MC is now demanding Rs 18,13,232 as current market price of the land but he is insisting to pay Rs 275 per marla, which was the market price of the land in 1972.

As the stalemate continues, Bhagat Ram faces fresh eviction notices from the MC, whose chairperson Anju Devi confirmed that eviction notice to Bhagat Ram still stands.

Una Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Dhanvir Thakur, said since the court orders do not mention the date for fixing the market price, the MC can assume that date as the date when the former soldier was allotted the land.

Aggrieved parties, if any, can later approach the court of law against the decision of the MC. The Revenue Department can mutate the land in the name of Bhagat Ram only after he has purchased it from the MC, he added.

“I fought the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan but my unending fight for a three-marla plot of land has been more painful and agonising for me and my family,” he said.

“My wife died some time ago with dreams of owning the shop, the only source of our livelihood,” he added.