Mumbai's Campa Cola Society residents, in a last ditch attempt to save their homes, appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday, according to media reports. In their 'mercy petition', they have asked the President to intervene on 'humanitarian grounds'.
Campa Cola residents block the entrance for the BMC officials who arrived to disconnect the water and electricity supply of the society, in Mumbai. (PTI photo)
On day three of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials' attempt to enter Mumbai's Campa Cola building complex to disconnect power supply and other utilities, the residents showed no signs of relenting.
The officials arrived at the Campa Cola compound at 11.45am on Sunday to continue the eviction process but were blocked by the defiant residents from entering the premises.
The officials warned that they may have to resort to using force if the residents did not relent.
"Do not compel us to use force. We have tried to convince you for the past two days to cooperate with us. All your appeals have been rejected by the Supreme Court," said Anand Waghralkar, deputy municipal commissioner.
Waghralkar told the residents that the costs for deploying manpower and machinery will be recovered from the society through property tax.
Read: BMC calls off action on day two
"We will send the society the bills of the costs incurred by the BMC. A demand notice giving 30 days' time will be sent," said Keshav Ubale, assistant commissioner, G South ward.
Officials said that action would be restricted to cutting gas and electric supplies on Sunday.
On Friday and Saturday, residents had blocked the entry of officials into the building premises that have between them 102 illegal flats whose demolition has been ordered by the Supreme Court after a long litigation.
Read: Avoid a Campa Cola building-like mess: 4 ways to check if your dream home is legal
The residents, on Friday, had even conducted a havan in the premises in an attempt to keep officials out.
In the face of increasing resistance from the residents to evict the campus, the civic body had filed a police complaint against those preventing them from implementing the SC order.
HT Edit: Lessons from the Campa Cola saga
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