Builders, HSG activists seek leniency for residents

Residents of Worli’s Campa Cola complex, facing eviction and demolition of their homes have received support from builders and housing activists, who call the civic body’s move ‘unacceptable’.

Residents of Worli’s Campa Cola complex, facing eviction and demolition of their homes have received support from builders and housing activists, who call the civic body’s move ‘unacceptable’.

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Activists and builders said the BMC should consider the plight of the residents, who have been living in the complex for 25 years now, and try all alternatives before taking such a drastic step.

Seeking the state government’s intervention, Paras Gundecha, president, Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHI), said, “In Ulhasnagar, illegal structures were regularised. A similar solution was also proposed in Mumbra. Such action is being taken against Campa Cola residents because there are fewer people living here,” he said.

“There is no harm in exploring options such as paying a premium for regularisation or some relief to the affected people,” he added.

Ramesh Prabhu, Chairman, Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MSWA) advocated a more humanitarian approach.

“How can you displace families living there for 25 years? The state has the power to regularise structures, this has been done before” he said.

The controversy concerns seven buildings constructed in the Campa Cola complex, on land leased to Pure Drinks Ltd, in 1988. While the civic body had approved seven five-storey structures on the land, the builders had built two high-rises (among the seven structures), of 17 and 20 storeys respectively.

On February 27, the Supreme Court ordered the BMC to demolish the illegal floors (140 in all) to be demolished immediately.