Days before bulldozers arrive, Campa Cola residents' last hope is Modi

A day after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation issued notices to residents of the illegal flats of the Campa Cola compound in Worli, Mumbai, asking occupants to hand over their keys so that demolition work can begin, residents undertook another last ditch effort, organising a candle-light vigil outside their homes on Tuesday evening, all of them reiterating their fervent hope: ‘Achche din aane wale hain’ [caption id=“attachment_151524” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of a Campa Cola resident performing aarti before pictures of Narendra Modi[/caption] Over 500 residents gathered in front of the Orchid building in Campa Cola compound as dusk fell. Many residents were of the view that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took charge of his office early the same morning, would save their homes. “Our vote was never for the Shiv Sena in the past. But this time, we voted for them unanimously due to their alliance with BJP, which campaigned saying ‘achche din aane wale hain’. Since we have voted BJP to power and Modi_ji_ has become Prime Minister, we feel that he should intervene in the matter and resolve it,” said Shashi Motwani, a resident of Orchid Apartments. “We feel that ours should be the first issue for the ‘achche din aane wale hai’ slogan,” said another resident. Meanwhile, residents have decided not to hand over keys of the illegal flats to the civic body. “Nobody is going to hand over the keys to the civic body. Let them initiate the legal action against us,” said Nandini Mehta, a resident of Campa Cola and also an active member of the ‘Save Campa Cola’ efforts. “We are making all the efforts to meet Modi_ji_ with our grievances to find a solution.” More than 100 families have been residing in the housing complex for the past 25 years. In November 2013, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about demolition of the building and had stayed the action, ordering the BMC to delay its demolition until 31 May, 2014. As per the order, residents have to vacate their flats by May 31 after which the civic body will initiate demolition. Newly elected Shiv Sena MP from Mumbai South Arvind Sawant, BJP’s city unit president Ashish Shelar and MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar visited the compound to extend their support. “We will move a breach of privilege motion against the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for not keeping his words,” said Shelar, a Member of the Legislative Council. In the last Assembly session, Chavan had assured the house that the government would try to find a solution. The monsoon session of Assembly starts from June 2. “We strongly feel that the issue can be resolved by Chavan and his urban development department. Still, we will brief Modiji about the issue in the next couple of days,” added Shelar.