Mumbai's Campa Cola residents fight the mighty BMC

Defiant Campa Cola residents on Friday thwarted attempts by municipal authorities to cut off essential supplies to the illegal flats, blocking their entry into the compound by locking up the gates and forming human barricades.

With the deadline set by authorities for vacating the flats ending on Friday, officials of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai descended on the Campa Cola compound on Friday morning with a large police contingent in tow, only to be greeted with closed gates and women pleading with folded hands, asking them to go away.

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High drama was witnessed as MCGM officials argued with implacable residents of the upscale housing society in Worli to let them in amid repeated chants of ‘we want justice’.

The authorities, who intended to cut off electricity, water and piped gas supplies to 102 illegal flats in the premises as part of their plan to force the occupants to vacate before demolition could be undertaken, beat a retreat after two failed attempts to convince the residents and said they would try again on Saturday.

Having met with failure, the municipal authorities would try and convince the residents again before thinking of using force to evict them. “We will try to talk to the residents 2-3 times more and make them understand the importance of the Supreme Court order. If they do not relent, we might use force to carry out the court’s orders,” said Mohan Adtani, additional municipal commissioner.

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Adtani said MCGM will also file a contempt petition in the Supreme Court in the next few days. “We have video-recorded the entire proceedings. We now have proof in our hands. We are mulling the idea of filing a contempt petition in the Supreme Court in the next couple of days,” he added.

Adtani said that the MCGM will, however, not wait for the court to pass an order before force is used against the residents. “The police will also file a complaint against the residents under Indian Penal Code Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty),” he said.

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A number of Republican Party of India workers carrying party flags were present outside the gates and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shaina N C was seen engaged in animated discussions with the municipal authorities and residents, who said they would continue their peaceful protest and oppose any move to evict them.

A 'havan' is also being performed within the compound seeking divine intervention to save the illegal flats from demolition where occupants have been living for close to three decades.

"Inside the gate of our campus, the women have formed the first line of defence and will prevent any MCGM official from entering the premises. We have no other place to go in the monsoon season, hence we will fight till our last breath," Ankit Garg, a resident, told PTI.

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MCGM authorities had recently prevented the society from even erecting tents in the compound.

Sources in the MCGM said that they would not use force to enter the premises to disconnect essential supplies. The proceedings, they said, were being video recorded and would be used as evidence against the residents in the Supreme Court as and when the authorities move with a contempt petition.

The Supreme Court had on June 3 dismissed the plea of the residents of illegal flats in the Campa Cola Housing Society against an earlier order asking them to vacate their premises by May 31.