In the Jhalawara district of Rajasthan, around 372 houses of the Gharonda Affordable Housing Scheme in the Aklera area ‘disappeared‘ when one of the house owners went to see his house there. Reportedly, during the period of the last eight months, 372 houses and 2 parks have ‘disappeared’ and only their debris is found at the spot.
In the year 2021, one Tariq bought a house under the Gharonda Affordable Housing Scheme. In January this year, when he went to the said housing colony in Aklera to see his house, not only his house but the entire colony was there, properly constructed. However, months later, when the house owner revisited the colony, he found to his surprise that neither the house that he bought nor the colony was standing at the spot rather only debris of the same could be seen.
Which means, the entire colony disappeared in just 8 months. Evidently, entire houses in the colony were dismantled and stolen by thieves. Not just windows and doors, thieves took away bricks and steel rods and everything else found in the house, leaving rubbles of concrete and mortar. Even the foundations of some houses are missing, and owners are unable to identify the plots they own as the entire place is covered with debris.
Neither the house owners nor the officials of the Housing Board had any information about the ‘disappeared’ or ‘stolen’ houses. Moreover, even the local police were not aware when an entire colony was razed to the ground.
Meanwhile, Aklera Station House Officer (SHO) Lakshmi Chandra Bairwa said that the police do not at present have any details regarding the matter adding that the police have not received any complaints as of now.
According to a Dainik Bhaskar report, several house owners who bought the houses constructed under the Gharonda Affordable Housing Scheme have submitted their complaints to the Housing Board officials. The complainants stated that they had purchased fully constructed houses, however, now even the foundation of their house is not found. The affected house owners have demanded that the Housing Board officials should at least get the marking of the plots done again to facilitate the house owners in identifying their plots.
Reportedly, the colony in question was built in 2012-13, however, as it was located far from the town, nearly 80 percent of houses remained unsold. In the year, 2019 the Housing Board offered a 50 percent discount on unsold houses. Subsequently, all the unsold houses in the colony were sold. Many people even bought more than one house after the discount. However, nobody moved into the houses to live, and the owners only visited them from time to time.
Everything was normal till January this year, however, in the last eight months, the entire colony was removed like it never existed, meanwhile, the police have no idea about what happened there.