2028 Kumbh Mela: Ujjain Muslim Colony residents directed to vacate their houses

The district administration has asked the residents of Gul Mohar Colony situated along the banks of the Shipra river to vacate their houses immediately. They say that the area falls along the river banks where the Sinhastha fair (Kumbh Mela) takes place every 12 years. The next Sinhasta fair is going to be held in 2028.

Bhopal: Dozens of families belonging to the Muslim community in the holy city of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh are under threat of eviction as the authorities are developing the area for a major Hindu festival slated to be celebrated in 2028. The district administration has asked the residents of Gul Mohar Colony situated along the banks of the Shipra river to vacate their houses immediately. They say that the area falls along the river banks where the Sinhastha fair (Kumbh Mela) takes place every 12 years. The next Sinhasta fair is going to be held in 2028. Authorities say that the preparations for the Sinhastha fair have started and the people are being relocated.

The locals, however, complain that the administration has arbitrarily issued notices to the people without giving any rehabilitation plan to them. "We have purchased the land with our hard-earned money. Some people have raised bank loans. Now we are being asked to vacate the area. Where shall we go?" said Shakeel Ur Rahman, a resident of the Gul Mohar Colony.

A delegation of the aggrieved residents on Friday called upon prominent Muslim leaders in Bhopal to take up their grievances with the higher-ups. "The officials at the Nagar Nigam and district administration have issued the notices, but no one is saying where these hundreds of families will go. We want the administration and the government to treat us humanely, either to give us alternate land or compensate us if we are bound to vacate our houses," he said.

Jamiat Ulama Madhya Pradesh President Haji Mohammad Haroon described the administration's eviction notice as "cruelty and injustice against Muslims". "The administration is disturbing the Muslim community through this order. Gul Mohar Colony of Ujjain is a very old residential colony, which until some time ago was outside the city limits of Ujjain and was a rural area inhabited for decades," Haroon said. He demanded Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan intervene in this matter on humanitarian grounds to save the people from this cruelty and abuse of power.