Campa Cola residents give in: BMC to start demolition process today

Mumbai: BMC authorities will disconnect power, water and gas utilities to the illegal flats in the Campa Cola complex later today after the residents of Campa Cola compound gave in and ended their three day standoff with municipal authorities.

The decision to end the agitation was a result of the intervention of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. The residents have now said that they will cooperate with the civic authorities.

Addressing a press conference, Ashish Jalan, a resident of Campa Cola compound who was part of the delegation that met the Chief Minister, said the residents would no longer obstruct the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) which was implementing the Supreme Court order on illegal flats and allow the civic officials inside the complex from Monday.

“Chavan assured us that he would look into our demand of getting 67,000 sq ft permissible FSI and asked us to comply with the court orders. He said he would positively consider the demand and seek opinion of the concerned authorities. With that assurance, we are taking the first step of co-operating with the system to get our redevelopment rights,” Jalan said.

Residents have contended that if the permissible FSI available for the plot is taken into account for regularisation, then only 1,774 square metres of the total construction will have to be demolished, which means around 22 flats or 10 per cent of the 35 illegal floors, the Indian Express reported .

Earlier, the BMC had rejected the application.

“With our current stand, we are not only complying with the Supreme Court’s (SC) orders but also asking for area that rightfully belongs to the society. After looking at people suffering in this fight against the BMC, we thought it is not worth the risk to continue like this,” Jalan told the media.

According to Jalan, the Chief Minister told the residents, who met him last afternoon, that state intervention was not possible despite humanitarian considerations because of the Supreme Court order.

Jalan said the residents would meet the civic authorities and ask them to carry out their work in the complex of cutting of essential supplies to the illegal flats.

PTI