Voting with the ‘sword of demolition’ over their heads

The mood is sombre at Mumbai’s Campa-Cola compound, as residents face a possible demolition of their homes next month.

The Supreme Court’s demolition deadline of illegal flats in the compound is May 31, and residents are keen to cast their vote tomorrow, in the hope that a new Government would bring in a solution that has eluded them so far.

Their choices are two-time sitting MP Milind Deora from Congress, who is pitted against Meera Sanyal from the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Sawant from the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, Bala Nandgaonkar of MNS and Prakash Reddy of CPI.

With counting in the second week of May, residents feel it would give them enough time to approach the newly elected and seek a final solution within the ambit of the law. This could include self-demolition within the FSI limits, buying out of the excess FSI or paying penalty for regularisation, residents said.

“There appears to be an anti-Congress wave in the compound given the disgruntlement with the Congress government and their inability to do anything for us. There is also a large section of the Marwari-Gujarati community in the complex which is willing to place their bets on Modi based on his Gujarat model,” said a resident who did not wish to be named.

First time voters like 18-year-old Viraj Gupta feel the youth, who now fear getting homeless, will come forward to vote in large numbers to express their disillusionment.

“Despite being disappointed with the politicians from all parties, we cannot think of boycotting elections as without it we would have no right to complain about our woes. All politicians have approached us but none is guaranteeing safety of our homes and removal of the sword of demolition from over our heads. So we are still uncertain of our future but willing to give a chance to an alternative new government,” said homemaker Kamal Parekh who will be heading to the polling booth with her son and husband to vote. “Everybody here is voting. We are hopeful that elections will spell an end to our problems,” said 42-year-old resident Yogesh Malhotra.

Residents of the Campa-Cola compound in Worli found themselves in the eye of the storm last year over the proposed demolition of 140 illegal flats spread across its seven buildings. The compound has 305 flats in all and is home to about 900 people.

Though the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had proceeded to demolish the unauthorised construction in the area last year following the Bombay High Court order, a bench of the apex court had stayed the demolition after taking cognisance of the matter on humanitarian grounds and extended the demolition date from November 11, 2013 to May 31, 2014.

Responding to a query on the issue, sitting Congress MP Deora said: “I think though it has been termed illegal by the court, sometimes law can have a different view from what is just and unjust. Hence, courts ultimately look at just laws. In the case of Campa-Cola, the permissible FSI that the building had belongs to the people. It would be a worse precedent if we take that FSI away from the people and allow the builder to get away with the money.”

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