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But the villagers do not want the balwadi. Leelabai Sonabai Jadhav, an elderly village woman, said, 8220;We already have one at the far end of the village. But there is no one to run it. It is now being used as a vyayamshala for boys.8221; The villagers have been usingthe vacant plot for weddings, festivals, sports and pastime. They see the construction as a bid to takeover their land, as the Mahila Aghadi has only a couple of members in the village. The villagers say the balwadi would become a Mahila Aghadi shakha by evening, a fact not denied by Aghadi workers.

What has irked the residents is the way the construction operations were being carried out. Two vans of policemen from Ghatkopar police station arrived at the spot on Wednesday. Then a contractor arrived with workers, showed the policemen some papers, and started laying the plinth.Why, only two days earlier, they had spoken to Prakash Mehta, who had promised to consult them before taking any further step. One of the villagers Albert Mendonca said, 8220;When we visited Mehta yesterday, he changed his tune. He told us the balwadi will be built even if he had to lose his seat.8221;

The villagers sought legal help, and obtained a stay order against the construction from the Civil and Sessions Court late yesterday night.Though the construction has halted, policemen are still posted at the tense village. The villagers, many of whom are East Indian Catholics, did not take part in the Good Friday penances today. As a priest from the local church, FrFrancis Gonsalves, put it, 8220;The lives of the people are more important than rituals.8221;

The conflict started when a group of women in the village formed the Adarsh Mahila Mandal AMM, and got it affiliated to the Mahila Aghadi. AMM soon saw a vertical split along class and caste lines 8212; the Hindu, middle class settlers on one flank and the Vadari-East Indian, lower middle class natives on the other. The caste divide spilt over to the vacant land. Asked why they could not let the common land be, an AMM worker said, 8220;The land has been used by them for Vadari and East Indian functions. We Hindus never go there.8221;

Manisha Sawant, secretary of the Ghatkopar unit of Mahila Aghadi, says, 8220;We are doing this for the welfare of the village. If they need the balwadi for functions, wewill rent it out to them at negligible costs.8221;

Local corporator Dr AS Rao agrees. 8220;Earlier, they conducted weddings in the open, now they can do it under a roof. This could have been conveyed to the villagers, but now that the matter is sub-judice, I cannot intervene.8221;Fr Gonsalves says, 8220;Instead of settling the issue locally, the Mahila Aghadi has politicised it. This thing should have been discussed across the table first. How can you force a balwadi on the villagers if they don8217;t want it?8221;

MLA Prakash Mehta countered the charges. 8220;It is a small issue of development, but it is unnecessarily being made into a big political matter. There is no reason for me to lose my seat if the balwadi is not constructed, and I have made no such statement. If the balwadi comes up there, fine, otherwise there are other places,8221; he told Express Newsline.