Madhya Pradesh: Royal family demands fort & land back in soon-to-be cheetah land, moves court

BHOPAL: After leopards, there’s now legal trouble for the cheetahs’ proposed new home in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh. “We gave our fort and land for lions, and not cheetahs. Return it to us if the lions aren’t coming,” say the Palpur royals who had to vacate their fortress and 260-bigha land when Kuno was declared a sanctuary for shifting of Gir lions.
The descendants of the Palpur royal family have now moved court against the state government to get their ancestral properties back. The fortress is located in the core area of Kuno sanctuary, where cheetahs are likely to arrive in a few days.
“It was for lions, not cheetahs, that we gave our fortress and land to the government. Now, when it is clear that lions are not coming, we want the government to return them to us,” Shreegopal Deo Singh, descendent of the family which ruled Kuno-Palpur centuries ago, told TOI. He has filed a petition in sessions court to reclaim the property.
Located on the banks of Kuno river, the fort — Palpur Garhi, as it is locally known — had to be vacated by the Palpur royal family, along with people of 24 villages of their erstwhile ‘jagir’, after the area was notified as a wildlife sanctuary in 1981.
When descendants of the Palpur family asked for compensation, the public works department (PWD) said in its survey report that the property was over 100 years old and had “zero value”. Based on this report, compensation was flatly denied.
Members of this family are charged Rs 1,300 as entry fee, like any other tourist, to visit their ancestral properties inside the sanctuary, an 180-km drive from Sheopur district headquarters and 425km north of Bhopal. They say their fort and land were acquired illegally.
Advocate Murli Manohar Parashar, who is representing the Palpur family in court, told TOI: “We have moved a petition to return our fort and land. The next hearing is on September 8.”
Real estate prices in and around Kuno-Palpur sanctuary had sky-rocketed soon after the Supreme Court ruled that some of the Asiatic lions will be shifted there from Gujarat’s Gir forest. The translocation never happened. And the family says they never got a paisa for their ancestral property.
The royal family has also moved high court against the forest department, demanding to be allowed to visit the fort and a temple within its walls until a final settlement on their claim is made. “The forest department has stopped us from offering prayers at our family temple in the fort,” the royals complain.
Over 1,500 villagers inside the sanctuary were compensated for their land, cattle, trees and other belongings during the land acquisition process, but the royal family says they got nothing. Most forest officers TOI spoke with felt the Palpur family should be given compensation after proper valuation of the property.
History of Palpur Fort
According to Dr Dhirendra Singh Jadaun, an associate professor at a government college in Rajasthan, the Palpur, Sabalgarh, Sumawali, and Vijaypur forts were built by the rulers of Sabalgarh, who were Jadon Rajputs from Karauli. If you plot these locations on a map, it forms a defensive oval, some 135km across.
“The Palpur fortress was probably built in the beginning of the 18th Century by Raja Gopal Singh of Karauli. Later, it was taken from Dhandheles, who were under Karauli Raja,” he told TOI.
The Jagirdars of Palpur draw their line from Yaduvanshi (Jadon) Rajputs. They are descendants of Bali Bahadur, son of Raja Dwarka Das of Karauli (1569), said the professor who has long been researching the family. Historians say this fort served as a sanctuary to Chandravanshi Raja Bal Bahadur Singh, who assumed the throne in 1666. Later, Thakur Barjor Singh obtained the Palpur Jagir from his father Rupnarayan Singh. In 1794, Thakur Jawan Singh captured Palpur from Dhandheles and Thakur Balbhdra Singh, Pratap Singh, Jaisingh, Shivratan Singh Madho Singh and Kishor Singh would be Jagirdars. Thakur Jagmohan Singh was the last ruler of Palpur Thikana who has since shifted to Gwalior. Now, Thakur Krishnaraj Singh, Vikrayraj Singh, Mahadevraj Singh, Shreegopal Dev Rao Singh and Kunwar Rishiraj Singh are members of the Palpur family.
Formidable Palpur Fortress
Palpur fortress is on the left bank of Kuno river. With imposing bastions and secured by a high rampart, it was protected by Kuno river as a natural defence. A temple and ‘kachahari’ still exist inside the fortress, said Dr Dhirendra Singh Jadaun Jadon. The Palpur fortress has two entrance gates, the second one being two-storied.