MUMBAI, November 7: Some 72 families at Parel staff quarters of the Central Railway (CR) spent their Diwali watching the ceiling. Only a day before (October 29) the Engineering Department had served them with eviction notices. The notice said their houses could come crashing any day if extensive repairs were not done soon.However, most of them stayed on. They had nowhere else to go. A few who moved out say the alternative accommodations are no safer.V G Mohite, who did not vacate his house, says: ``It all happened in a flash. Officials from the engineering department asked us to vacate the buildings (RB-1 type quarters nos 253 and 254) which we have been occupying for 45 years now.'' He said they had complained repeatedly about the poor maintenance of the buildings, but not even a survey was conducted. ``One fine day, and what a day, they suddenly come and order us to move out. They say buildings require urgent repairs.What were they doing all these years?'' he asks.When Express Newsline visited the site on Wednesday afternoon, most of the men were away at work. A few housewives spoke of the experience, which most of them referred to as a nightmare. ``I was giving final touches to Diwali sweets when the officials walked in with the notice. My husband and kids had gone shopping.I had no clue what was happening. How can we abandon our houses a day before Diwali?'' said one requesting anonymity. She said if she was quoted her husband would get in trouble with the authorities. Another woman said her family shifted to the alternative accommodation only to find it already occupied. ``We gave up all preparations for Diwali and moved only to come back the next day. It was perhaps the worst Diwali I ever had.'' Those who got alternative accommodation are not happy either. A CR employee who shifted to Vidyavihar said he has been asked to cough up Rs 5,000 for installing a new electricity meter as the railway quarters are supplied with power by the BEST. ``Where are we supposed to gather Rs 5000 in a few days?'' he asked. Senior officials when contacted said lives of those residing in these buildings were in danger and added that they must vacate their houses. According to Chief PRO Mukul Marwah, maintenance work on railway buildings has to be done regularly.
