Residents of Campa Cola compound fight to save their homes
Over 100 families in Mumbai's "Campa Cola" compound locked up their gates on Tuesday and barricaded themselves inside, physically blocking dozens of civic and police officials as they desperately fought to keep their home of two decades.
Asked to vacate their illegal flats in the high-rise complex in south Mumbai, the families refused to let in the officers who came with bulldozers and were to start disconnecting water and electricity, as a precursor to eviction that seemed inevitable.
The Supreme Court's deadline to vacate 102 flats ended on Monday.
Amid the standoff, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan asked the Centre's top lawyer, the Attorney General, for his opinion on whether an ordinance - or an executive order - can save the homes.
Seven high-rises were constructed at the Campa Cola Compound between 1981 and 1989. The builders had permission for only six floors, but constructed several more. One of the buildings, Midtown, has 20 floors. Another building, Orchid, has 17.
Mumbai's civic body decided to bring down the 35 illegal floors in the seven high-rises in the compound after the Supreme Court refused to regularise them. Residents say they are paying for the builders' crime.
The long and difficult fight to save the flats won all party support even though the opposition Shiv Sena heads the civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
"The Supreme Court's order is very tough, a harsh one. It will have to be implemented. All parties have asked the residents to cooperate with the BMC and police authorities," said Milind Deora, the Congress MP from Mumbai South.
Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai admits that any move to save the Campa Cola residents will have a long term impact. "We have to take legal opinion and move. We have to consider every aspect."