Jahriya Mania Solanki, 58

Khalbujarg village, Dhar district

SPORTING A big headgear and a bigger smile, Jahriya Mania Solanki says he doesn’t know how far he is from what had been his home for generations but now, he says, “this is home.” Five years ago, Jahriya, his wife and 10 children, along with the families of his four brothers, moved from their village Bhadal, in Badwani district, to Khalbujarg in the state’s Dhar district, where they got adjacent plots spread over 5 acres and where they now grow cotton.

“We don’t how how far we have travelled because we are all illiterate. All we know is that it’s a long way from here. We have to change three buses to reach the Narmada and then cross the river to go to the other side,’’ says Jahriya’s nephew Devji.

It was in 1998 that the government acquired the family’s 17-acre agricultural land in Bhadal village. “Dekhte dekhte hi dub gaya (the land submerged before our eyes),” says Jahriya’s younger brother Ohariya, talking of how they had been “hearing for at least 30 years” of how the river would one day consume their fields. While they waited for alternative land to be allocated, the family lived in a village nearby, till they got the land of their choice.

He says they were also offered land near

Maheshwar in Khargone district. “But when we went with police and government officials, the villagers there attacked us. We later found out that some people had encroached on the plot that was meant for us. They started fighting and asked us to return,’’ recalls Jahriya, adding that it was only four years ago that they got this land in Khalbujarg, 90 km from Indore and 140 km from their home.

Talking of the SC order, Jahriya says, “We thank our stars that we got this land. An acre here costs around Rs 25 lakh. Our family wouldn’t have been able to buy 5 acres for Rs 60 lakh. Our next generations will do well in life.’’ He says though they are happy here, the family is yet to get the residential plots they are entitled to as part of the rehabilitation package.

“They did give us land to build homes, but that is five km from here and we turned it down. We have now asked for plots closer to our fields,” he says. The family – the four brothers and their families — now live in a makeshift house near their field. “Whatever it is, this is now home. We don’t get time to miss our old home. We are busy here,’’ says Devji, adding that they have bought a tractor, which they take turns to use.