Demolition imminent, lives of Pabhat villagers in Punjab hangs in balance

After eviction notice by Zirakpur MC, villagers near airport say they have nowhere to go.

Where will we go now? This question haunts almost 3,000 villagers of Pabhat who have been asked to vacate their houses believed to be illegally constructed and located close to the Chandigarh International Airport.

Residents of Pabhat village outside their houses on Saturday. The Zirakpur MC has issued them a notice to vacate their houses, after which a demolition drive will be held on Monday. (HT Photo)

After the Punjab and Haryana high court banned construction activity in the 100 metre area of the Chandigarh International Airport and directed the municipal corporation (MC) and Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to find out the extent of illegal construction and demolition of the same, the villagers fear the worst.

“This is not encroachment, this is our ancestral land, ” insists 45-year-old, Dawinder Singh, who runs a shop in the village .

Constantly coughing, Shamsher Singh, the 85-year-old patriarch of the village, adds, “This airport is built on our land. Some years go, my father also gave up his land for the airport, and now I might have to do the same.”

Jaswinder Kaur, married into a family in the village 25 years back, said, “I have no address. I was married here, where will we go now?”

What will happen to anganwadi, school?

Pabhat village also has an anganwadi and two government schools which are right next to the boundary wall of the airport.

Since 1996, Sulochana Devi takes care of the Anganwadi where 24 toddlers come for daycare every day. “It was registered after a resolution passed by the panchayat. Will they demolish this also? We have also registered pregnant and lactating mothers of the village over here.”

Aashish Verma, 23, says he will not move from here as he was born in the village. His statement was seconded by 70-year-old Gurdev Kaur. “This airport has come up now, I have been living here for years.”

Sarabjit Kaur, mother of a 23-year-old woman broke into tears while narrating her ordeal, “We do not have any money left for the marriage of my daughter. what will we do?.”

Paramjit Singh, a 36-year-old chemist said the villagers would not be able to move court “as it’s the court order that the MC is following.”

Poonam Verma, a BCom Student is traumatised by the newspapers reporting the imminent demolition of the houses in her villages and wonders where her family will go if that’s done.

Balwant Kaur, 80, is stoic and says she will follow whatever the villagers decide. The senior citizen who lives with her 42-year-old daughter-in-law Hardeep and runs a shop, says, “We haven’t thought where we will go now. Whatever the village decides we will obey them.”