Ulhasnagar: How politicians ganged up to script an ordinance

They include Nationalist Congress Party President (NCP) Sharad Pawar as the RPI faction Kalani belongs to supports the NCP, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairman Vasant Daokhare, who directed the government to make a Special Development Control Rule (SDCR) for Ulhasnagar.

The Bombay High Court had on December 7 directed the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) to immediately demolish 855 unauthorised structures.

Against immense pressure from local Sindhis and Kalani, the UMC demolished four buildings, but the pace of the demolitions was far from desirable. ‘‘The government asked the UMC to go slow on the pretext that some legal framework was being drafted to regularise illegal structures,’’ a legislator from Thane district told The Indian Express.

Politicians across parties chorused the need to protect locals’ homes and jobs and to take action against civic officials responsible for the illegal sprawl.

Daokhare, as Presiding Officer, directed the government to frame SDCR for Ulhasnagar. Deshmukh, however, played safe. ‘‘We have to abide by the court order. How can we stop the demolition?’’ he asked on December 16. In the same breath, he said the government would consult legal experts on framing a special law for Ulhasnagar, indicating that a political judgement was still to be pronounced.

Kalani, meanwhile, did a volte-face, asking locals to co-operate with the demolitions. ‘‘The government apparently assured him of a bailout package,’’ said a minister.