Campa Cola residents relent; essential supplies to be cut off

In a climbdown, residents of Campa Cola compound, who have been resisting authorities since last week, on Monday agreed to allow municipal officials to enter the premises and disconnect electricity, water and gas pipeline connections to illegal flats.

The decision was announced by residents of the housing complex in the plush Worli area of south Mumbai after a meeting with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who asked them to comply with the law and assured that their proposal of 67,000 sq ft permissible Floor Space Index (FSI) would be positively considered.

The residents have also written to President Pranab Mukherjee hoping for a presidential “pardon”.

Ashish Jalan, a resident speaking on behalf of the Campa Cola society tenants, said, “It is a win-win situation. We will cooperate with the civic authorities as they have told us that only supplies to basic utilities would be cut and they would not carry out any demolition.”

Deputy Municipal Commissioner Anand Waghralkar said that the civic body will begin disconnecting essential supplies to the 102 illegal flats from 11 am on Tuesday.