BHOPAL: Panna district collector in Madhya Pradesh on Monday ordered an inquiry into allegations by an elderly couple that they have been declared “dead” in panchayat records and that their land has been usurped.This followed a high-voltage drama, a video of which went viral showing the couple falling at the feet of state higher education minister and Panna district in-charge Inder Singh Parmar during a govt programme, pleading for justice.The incident took place on Sunday at a state horticulture department event in Janwar village. The couple, Bhura Adivasi (78) and his wife Keshkali (75), told the minister that they had been shown as deceased in official records, enabling local residents, along with their son, to seize their house and six acres of land.
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Eyewitnesses said the couple knelt in front of Parmar, saying, “We are alive, please get us our house and land.” The minister assured them that their matter had already been flagged to the collector.Panna collector Suresh Kumar told TOI that a fact-finding team was dispatched to their village on Monday. “The team found that the couple had migrated to Katni district around 40 years ago following a dispute with a local. They had been living there since, only to return three years ago. Team was told that their land, which is around five acres, was sold by their elder son on grounds that both parents were dead. The son, who sold the land is also dead now. We are getting the land records examined so that the land could be restored to them,” Kumar said.State panchayat secretary Surya Pratap Singh Yadav said that they had been trying to resolve the issue for the last two-and-a-half years. “They don’t have any documents. But when we talked to some elderly people in the village, we were told that the land belongs to them. We are trying our best to help them” he said. Officials said after the couple had migrated to Katni decades ago, they were traced by their niece a few years ago, who brought them back to Panna. By then, their land records had allegedly been manipulated, and they were marked “dead” in panchayat registers. Their niece said she had been repeatedly petitioning the administration since their return but to no avail. With their names struck off as “deceased,” the couple said they have been denied basic entitlements — they have no Aadhaar card, no voter ID, and do not receive old-age pension.