Bull-dozers set to bring down your home of 25 years?
That was the grim reality families living in about 140 apartments in the Campa Cola compound in Worli faced till a nick-of-the-moment reprieve came from the Supreme Court.
As residents sat amidst cartons that packed their life’s belongings, tears in their eyes, the Court gave them a five-month breather to move home — some light in an otherwise gloomy road ahead.
The Court had earlier ordered that the illegal floors on these buildings be brought down.
Traumatic experience
The ruling holds an unsettling tale for the great Indian middle class, who have few, if any, to shed tears for them.
For those not familiar with Mumbai’s sea-laced landscape, Worli is an upmarket address in South Mumbai, under the nose of every possible authority that governs the city. So while people say that Campa Cola’s residents knew they were playing with fire by buying into an illegal structure, the point is, they didn’t start the fire. Those who need to be nailed first are authorities who allowed the illegal floors (about 35 of them!) to be built, who sanctioned water and electricity supply and who have collected taxes for several years now.
Whether residents knew the structure was illegal, or not, the end result is the same — court cases and the threat of losing your home. Assuming there may be genuine buyers who may not have known the building had illegal structures, and who may have put their life’s savings into buying a home, the experience is traumatic.
But Campa residents have only themselves to plead their case. And relocate, they will have to, old parents, young children and all.
Contrast this with Mumbra, in the city suburbs, where a relatively new building came crashing down, killing several residents. The structure here was illegal and unsafe. But politicians in the area brought the neighbourhood to a standstill demanding that illegal structures not be brought down.
The idea is not to support illegal buildings. But watching from the ringside, it is disturbing to see how little support citizens have if they are perceived to be the creamy layer in the middle-class. As one Campa resident aptly puts it, it is better to be super rich or a pauper.
No illegal building, no buyer
Sometimes the truth is so simple, it’s lost in the din. If there are no illegal structures in the first place, there would be no illegal resident, period. The scary reality here is that, across the country, unsuspecting folks are buying homes in the various real-estate projects that make tempting offers — river-side walks, mountain-view, head in the clouds! And your due diligence notwithstanding, you could still be saddled with a lemon. The battle there-on is a lonely one, whether you are an affluent business-man, a well-placed corporate executive or an artist or creative person — no material for a vote-bank or a photo-opportunity.
The story gets repeated in healthcare. Here, those below the poverty line are promised Government support, as indeed they should be. If anything, they possibly need more of such support. At the other end of the spectrum is the class that pays its way through expensive healthcare services. Caught in the middle is the creamy layer of the middle class, bearing the brunt of increasing medicine prices, high doctor fees and hospitalisation charges.
In housing, the uber-rich and the poor have their supporters. But for the affluent middle-class, no celebrity sits on dharna , nor are they political currency for vote-seekers.
It is a disconcerting lesson that one gleans from the Campa Cola residents’ fate. You may be a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen. But if you belong to the “in between” class, and the odds are against you, there are few you can lean on for support.