CM Yadav's Ancestral Home Comes Under Ujjain Road Widening

The CM's own house is now in the road plan

Road widening in Ujjain has reached a familiar landmark. The ancestral home of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, and of his elder sister and Ujjain Nagar Nigam chairperson Kalavati Yadav, now falls inside the alignment of a road being widened. After the development came into the picture, the municipal corporation team carried out a survey of the two houses and marked them in red.

The work is part of the large-scale road widening being carried out in Ujjain in preparation for Simhastha Kumbh 2028. Around 62 major roads in the city are being widened, and bridges are being built at several points including Indore Road. The wider programme also includes projects such as the Silarkhedi-Sewarkhedi dam and the Khan diversion.

730 metres being taken to 15 metres wide

The stretch in question runs from Khajoor wali Masjid through Abdalpur and the Jeevajigunj thana to Ganesh Chowk. It is 730 metres long and is being widened to 15 metres. A total of 272 buildings come in the way of this alignment.

Wider road work in the city is not new. In areas including Kanthal, Teliwada, Sarrafa and Patni Bazaar, road widening has already been completed. Several temples, mosques and other religious sites are also affected to some extent, with parts of them prepared to be removed for the project.

Wider corridors and already-finished stretches

Wider road work in the city is not new. In areas including Kanthal, Teliwada, Sarrafa and Patni Bazaar, road widening has already been completed. Several temples, mosques and other religious sites are also affected to some extent, with parts of them prepared to be removed for the project.

That combination, an active residential and commercial corridor of 272 affected buildings alongside religious structures in the same alignment, is what makes this stretch contentious rather than purely technical.

"We are ready to demolish the affected portion"

Kalavati Yadav, the CM's sister and the Nagar Nigam chairperson, said the family is ready to give up the affected part of the house. She said the ancestral home is also coming into the road widening from Khajoor wali Masjid to Ganesh Chowk, and that the family is fully cooperating.

Her remarks were notable for the reasoning she gave. She said that everyone living in this area is like their own family, and that no one should face discrimination on the basis of BJP or Congress, or on religious lines. For a widening project that affects temples, mosques and homes in the same corridor, that framing is the substance of the story, not a side comment.

A house from 1974

The property has family history behind it. According to available information, the CM's grandfather Ramchandra Yadav built the house in 1974, and both of the CM's sons, Poonamchand Yadav and Shankarlal Yadav, spent their childhood there along with the rest of the family.

Poonamchand Yadav has five children. They are Nandlal Yadav, Narayan Yadav, Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, his sister Gyarsi Bai, and Kalavati Yadav, who chairs the Ujjain Nagar Nigam.

The detail that both siblings named in the report share the same ancestral house, and that the corporation chairperson is the one announcing the family's decision, is what gives the story its weight. The family is not simply a party to the project being announced at it.

The wider Simhastha project list

Road widening is only one part of the preparation. Beyond the streets, the programme for Simhastha 2028 includes the Silarkhedi-Sewarkhedi dam and the Khan diversion, described among the larger projects. Bridges are under construction at several points in the city, with Indore Road among the locations named.

Set against that, the Khajoor wali Masjid to Ganesh Chowk corridor is a single 730-metre link, but it sits on a route that connects a mosque, a police thana and a market junction. Corridors like this are the ones where a 15-metre width translates into 272 buildings being affected, which is why the corridor has become the visible test of how the widening is being handled.

Leading by example

The framing used around this report is that the CM is sacrificing his own property in the interest of city development. Kalavati Yadav's own words were more specific than that headline, and worth repeating in full terms: everyone living in the area is like their own family, and there should be no discrimination on the basis of party or religion for people whose houses are affected.

That statement is aimed at a specific risk. When a corridor of 272 buildings includes homes of the ruling family's relatives, the usual criticism follows that others will be treated differently. Committing publicly to demolishing the affected portion, and naming the principle, is meant to foreclose that.

What travellers should know about Ujjain's rebuilding

Ujjain is being rebuilt at a scale that will be felt by anyone visiting for Simhastha 2028 or who follows the city regularly.

• About 62 major roads are being widened across the city.
• The Khajoor wali Masjid to Ganesh Chowk stretch is 730 metres long and going to 15 metres wide, affecting 272 buildings.
• Indore Road is among the stretches where new bridges are under construction.
• The Silarkhedi-Sewarkhedi dam and the Khan diversion are among the larger supporting projects.
• Widening has already been completed in Kanthal, Teliwada, Sarrafa and Patni Bazaar.

The practical consequence for visitors is that routes to the ghats and the temple areas, and the approaches around Mahakal and Ram Ghat, will keep changing through the build-out. Anyone planning a trip should treat current directions through these corridors as temporary.

Source: Live Hindustan. Full report on bulldozers being marked at the CM's and his sister's homes in Ujjain. Building and route counts are as reported at the time of publication.