Campa Cola residents knock Rahul’s door
In their bid to secure speedy justice, the residents of Campa Cola compound have decided to knock Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s door during his visit to Mumbai on Thursday 6th March, 2014 Mr Gandhi is scheduled to visit Mumbai and Bhiwandi on March 6 and interact with a cross section of the people.
“We at Campa Cola compound have sought time with Mr Gandhi to seek his intervention in sorting our issues specially after the Supreme Court asked us to submit a fresh proposal to BMC,” said residents of Campa Cola Compound. “We have submitted documents to BMC in support of our case that the so- called illegal flats can be regularized by imposing penalty and the homes bought by scores of families can be saved,” they added.
The residents had earlier met Mr Rahul Gandhi in Delhi who had assured them that he would ask the Chief Minister Mr Prithviraj Chavan to look into the matter and try and sort the same. The Chief Minister had in the Nagpur session had made a statement that he would meet the residents and the BMC to look for a possible solution.
Congress MP Milind Deora had also written to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi pleading for her intervention, The residents of Campa Cola Compound are hopeful that Mr Milind Deora would be instrumental in making the residents meet Mr Rahul Gandhi. “Considering his proximity to Mr Gandhi and that Campa Cola falls under his constituency, we believe that it is Mr Deora’s duty to push for a solution to help save our homes. “Rahul Gandhi, with his pragmatic and practical approach, has been working on solutions to knotty issues and we do hope he will give us a patient hearing.’ said another resident.
The Supreme Court has given time till May 31 for the residents and BMC to work out a solution.
The apartments were constructed on land leased to Pure Drinks Ltd in 1955, which was permitted by B.M.C in 1980 to develop it for residential purposes. Pure Drinks along with unscrupulous builders, Yusuf Patel, B.K. Gupta and P.S.B Construction Co erected seven buildings, two of which were high- rise buildings of 17 and 20 stories. During the construction period, the authorities issued notices to the builders to stop work. The builders were fined and they paid the penalty and resumed work. After the construction was completed nobody prevented the buyers from occupying their apartments or the buildings from forming co-operative housing societies.
Unaware of these violations, the residents bought the apartments believing that they would get the occupation certificates in due course, as was the norm 25 years ago. Since 2005 the residents have been in litigation with B.M.C. trying to defend their homes and save their families from being thrown on the streets.
