Gram Panchayat razes Army jawan's house, renders kin homeless

A gram panchayat in Pune district has razed over one-year-old house of an Army jawan over "failure" to secure requisite permissions from local governing body, forcing him and his family members to take shelter in a cow shed.
Pune district collector Sourabh Rao today told PTI he has asked the Block Development Officer of Zilla Parishad to submit a report about the situation by tomorrow and look into making them available temporary accommodation.
The demolition took place in Mandavgan-Farata village on December 28 and since then the jawan, Balu Chowgule, his parents and a younger brother are staying in the cow shed of a villager.

Chowgule, second son in the family of a landless labour, has been with Army for last six years.
He said he is part of the National Rifle Association of India and has won some medals as a shooter for country.
"As I did not own any land, I was awarded one guntha (around 1,000 sq.Ft.) piece of land in 2014. I even obtained a loan of Rs 5 lakh for the construction of the house. The house was ready and we have started living there for more than one year," Chowgule said.

After serving in Kashmir for four years, he was posted at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

According to Chowgules, after construction of the home, gram panchayat elections were held and a new governing body sent them a notice stating that we have not taken necessary permissions for construction.
"My son resumed duty on December 24, 2016. However, after he learnt about razing on December 28, he immediately sought leave and rushed to village.
"Despite several requests made by us, the village authorities brought it (house) down with a machine. We were told that we had not taken all the permissions required for the construction," said Balu's father Anand Chowgule.
He said he rears domestic animals of some people on contract in the village which helps him earn some money.

"The piece of land allotted to my son was also not a very prime location or given to us by snatching from anyone. It is an unused piece of land and full of shrubs. We first cleaned the piece and then constructed home. Despite having gram panchayat's resolution, our home was demolished," he said.
Meanwhile, Rao said, "I came to know about razing of the house from an officer. I have asked Block Development Officer of Zilla parishad to submit a report about the situation by tomorrow. I have also asked them to recommend other possible ways to provide an immediate shelter to the family. The legal aspect in the whole issue will take some time, but arranging a shelter is priority, as the family has lost their home.