Residents seek help from prez, top politicians

After petitions to the high court, Supreme Court and hours of protests yielded no results, residents of the Campa Cola complex have turned to the President, Prime Minister and Maharashtra chief minister, asking them to stop or defer the demolition.

After petitions to the high court, Supreme Court and hours of protests yielded no results, residents of the Campa Cola complex have turned to the President, Prime Minister and Maharashtra chief minister, asking them to stop or defer the demolition.

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With less than 48 hours to go, residents on Tuesday wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee, PM Manmohan Singh and CM Prithviraj Chavan. In one of the letters, they said: “Our review petition is pending with SC and we have not exhausted our legal options. We therefore request you to wait for the verdict before implementing the notices issued on Friday, April 26, 2013.”

Of the 140 flats that have been marked as authorised and served eviction notices, not one family has vacated their homes. "We will die a slow death without a shelter rather than give up our homes without a fight. All of us have unanimously decided to stay in our homes even as the BMC reaches the spot," said Nandini Mehta, a resident.

Residents have been pleading that their flats be regularised and are ready to pay the penalty for that. They have claimed that they are not to blame for the builders’ irregularities and should not be thrown out of their homes.