Archer Pravin Jadhav's parents say land dispute may force them to leave the village

The parents of archer Pravin Jadhav who was part of the Indian squad at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics have said they will leave their village in Maharashtra's Satara district if they are not allowed to construct on the land where their present house stands.

Jadhav's family lives in a two-room house in Sarade village. They want to carry out more construction but the neighbouring family is obstructing it, his farther Ramesh Jadhav alleged on Wednesday. If the dispute was not resolved, he and his family would leave the village, he said.

"My parents used to work as labourers for the Sheti Mahamandal (State Agriculture Corporation) which gave this land to us and allowed us to construct a house when our financial condition got better," he said.

The Mahamandal, however, had not executed any deed while giving them land and it was only an oral agreement, he told PTI over the phone. The family first built a two-room house when Pravin joined the Army and nobody objected, he said.

"But recently when we decided to build a bigger house, our neighbours, whose land is in front of our house, objected, claiming that the entire land is owned by them," Jadhav alleged. He was ready to leave ample space for an approach road to the neighbouring plot, he said.

As construction could not be carried out, he had to sell off the material purchased for Rs 1.40 lakh for Rs 40,000, he said. When they decided to build a toilet, the neighbour again threatened to lodge a police complaint, Jadhav said.

Shivaji Jagtap, Sub-divisional Officer, Phaltan, told PTI that the plot where the Jadhavs live is still part of the land owned by the Sheti Mahamandal. The neighbour objected as the area where the Jadhav family had proposed new construction covers part of the approach road to his land, Jagtap said.

He and some local police officers visited the spot and tried to resolve the dispute by promising to ensure that there will be ample room for an approach road, but the dispute has lingered, he added.

"We are sure that in the next two to three days, the issue will be resolved," Jagtap said. The administration is examining if some portion of the land can be transferred formally in Pravin's name, and the neighbouring family too is ready to give three gunthas of land as a `gift', the SDO said.

Pravin had told PTI earlier that five-six members of the neighbouring family arrived in the morning and warned his parents against renovating their tin-roof house. "I've informed this to Army officials and they are looking into it," he said.

Pravin returned to India from his maiden Olympics after losing to world number one Brady Ellison in the second round in the individual section.