‘They have no sympathy for us’: PCMC fixes May 17 to demolish 34 illegal bungalows in Chikhli, tearful residents seek more time

The PCMC is taking the action after the Supreme Court on May 9 dismissed a review petition of the residents seeking to stop the demolitions. The apex court upheld the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order for demolishing the bungalows. It also upheld the Rs 5 crore cost be imposed on the residents by the NGT for causing environmental damage.

As part of their plan, officials and employees of PCMC’s water department landed in the area around noon on Wednesday. When the PCMC team arrived, affected residents stormed out of their houses and pleaded with them not to sever their water connections. Most of the women residents were in tears.

The residents alleged that the developers and PCMC officials had cheated them. They said they bought the plot of land and constructed their homes with their hard-earned money and had no clue that their land fell under the blue floodline of the river.

”My son is getting married in two days. We are busy making preparations for his marriage. And the PCMC wants to cut our water connection. They are not even applying their mind, they have no sympathy for us,” lamented Laxmibai Gawde, a resident.

PCMC officials, who had come with a heavy police bandobast, paid no heed to the cries of the residents as they severed water connections to the locality.

When contacted, Manoj Lonkar, who heads PCMC’s water department, said, “We have disconnected some of the water connections to the locality. We will carry out further actions tomorrow.”

The residents then went to PCMC headquarters to meet Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh and city engineer Makrand Nikam, who were not present. However, they met Lonkar, who told them he was following the commissioner’s orders.

Mahesh Patil, one of the affected residents, said they are seeking time from the PCMC administration. ”Almost all of us had sold our old houses and jewellery and moved here two years ago. We invested Rs 50 to Rs 90 lakh in buying the plot of land and constructing our homes. We took loans from banks. Each one of us is paying heavy EMIs. If the PCMC goes ahead with the demolitions, where will we go in these rains? It should consider our plea on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

Residents considering second review petition in Supreme Court

Patil said they are exploring possibly filing a second review petition in the Supreme Court. ”Our first review petition was dismissed. We are now thinking of filing a second review petition. In the first review petition, we spent lakhs of rupees, and we will have to collect money to file the second review petition. We are urging the PCMC to wait till we explore the option. We are only seeking some time from PCMC,” he said.

Ganesh Khule, another resident, said, ”We did the sale in 2021. However, the court case for violation of environmental norms was filed in 2020 against the developers of nearby buildings. Those developers were charged for dumping debris in the Indrayani river. If the case against those developers was already underway, how can they blame us? In this case, we have been framed unnecessarily.”

Patil reiterated that they have also urged the PCMC to conduct a fresh survey of the blue flood line. “We have been seeking a fresh survey of the blue floodline. The water resources ministry has already asked the PCMC to conduct a fresh survey. If, in a fresh survey, it is found that our structures are illegal, then we will demolish them on our own. We are demanding the fresh survey because we strongly believe that the blue flood line has been wrongly marked,” he said.

The residents said the May 9 order of the Supreme Court noted that the bungalows could be demolished within six months of uploading the order. The civic administration, however, differed.

Engineer Nikam said, ”There are 34 illegal bungalows within the blue flood line. Of the 34, 29 residents had approached the court. Now that all have been held illegal, we will demolish all 34 bungalows.”