The Madhya Pradesh Housing Board has ordered residents of 600 dilapidated economically weaker section houses in Bhopal’s Aishbagh area to vacate by November 13, ahead of a demolition drive scheduled for November 14. The existing structures are planned to be replaced with a multi-storey residential complex under the Madhya Pradesh Redevelopment Policy, 2022.
The final notice requires occupants to leave the houses and remove their belongings before the deadline. The demolition will be carried out with assistance from the Bhopal Municipal Corporation and police, according to a press release issued by the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board.
The Housing Board said only 110 of the 600 houses are occupied by their original legal allottees. The remaining units, according to the Board, are under unauthorised occupation. This distinction will determine access to rental assistance during the redevelopment period.
Original legal allottees who provide written consent to vacate will be eligible for monthly rental assistance at applicable Collector rates, the Board said. Unauthorised occupants will not be eligible for the benefit. The supplied report does not specify the rental amount, the duration of assistance or the arrangements for residents during the demolition process.
The structures were declared unsafe by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation in May 2016. Further notices were issued in 2018, indicating that the safety concerns and occupancy dispute have continued for several years before the latest demolition order.
Under the proposed redevelopment, eligible original allottees will receive new flats that are 20 per cent larger than their existing units. The plan is therefore tied both to the removal of unsafe housing and to the reconstruction of the Aishbagh EWS settlement as a multi-storey residential complex.
The case highlights the administrative complexity of redeveloping older public housing. The Housing Board must simultaneously address structural safety, possession of the existing units, the status of original allottees, temporary rental support and the delivery of replacement homes. The immediate notice, however, applies differently to legal allottees and unauthorised occupants, with only the former identified as eligible for rental assistance.
The November 13 vacation deadline comes one day before the scheduled demolition. The source report does not provide details of the redevelopment contractor, construction timeline, proposed number of replacement flats or the process through which eligible allottees will receive their new homes. The demolition is scheduled for November 14 with police and Bhopal Municipal Corporation assistance.
