MUMBAI, MAY 27: Who disposes if the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) proposes? Nobody can, it would seem. An entire neighbourhood in Dadar (E) has been unable to prevent the F/south ward office from sanctioning a piece of land, bang in front of the gate of a housing society to a zunkha bhakar stall. The stall which stands tall in cement today, abuts a pavement, leans on a building, is located on a drainage chamber, covers the underground cable network and makes the only fire hydrant in the area inoperable.

All pleas against the structure, which sells rice plates most of the time, have fallen on deaf ears. Despite a stay order till June 17 from the Bombay City Civil Court, the zunkha bhakar stall on the Marathi Granth Sangrahalaya Marg (Naigaum Cross road), Dadar (E) outside the Narielwalla Agiary (Fire temple) is doing brisk business, drawing power illegally from a shop in the opposite lane.

Every morning, residents of the Narielwalla Agiary Cooperative housing society witness the unsavoury sight of workers taking a bath. The gate to the society is almost unapproachable now.

Residents are shocked by the disregard for the fire temple shown by the BMC. ``This land was given up by the Narielwala Agiary Trust, as a setback to the BMC for a future road widening project. If the BMC is using it for commercial purposes, we might as well have our land back,'' says one of the residents. Flouting all developmental control regulations, the stall owned by one Chandrakant Kamble, who also owns a shoe shop, leans against the neighbouring Sai Kunj building, covering its sewage pipelines. ``I came to know about it when a BMC official came to take a measurements,'' says the landlord Dilip Mehra. Letters to the BMC yielded no answer. Few days later an additional police commissioner laid the foundation stone of the stall, followed by its inauguration by RPI leader, Ramdas Athavale.

``The stall has been located on a drainage chamber which collects the refuse of the entire area, including three hotels,'' says Mehra who approached court against it and got a stay order on May 17. Mehra claims to have been threatened by Kamble, though the latter denies it. ``We seem to be at the mercy of the powers that be, without any protection from the authorities,'' says Mehra.

Interestingly, while the stall is in the F/north ward, the permission to run it has been given by the F/south ward. The Naigaum cross lane serves as the boundary between the two administrative wards. ``All our land assessment papers come from the F/north office. How can the F/south office give permission for the stall in the F/north area?'' asks a resident.

F/south ward officer, S Subramaniam, however argues that the land being on the boundary cannot actually belong to any of the wards. ``The road belongs to the F/south ward. But how can we decide on the boundary,'' he asks.

Deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) zone II, V S Jadhav, who gave the no-objection certificate to the stall, claims that the structure is not resting against any building. ``Even if it seems close to the building, it is not actually taking its support,'' he says.

Jadhav accepts that his office gave the necessary sanctions to the stall. ``We only sanction the site, the actual permission for the stall is given by the collector of Mumbai,'' he adds.

He denies that the stall is is any way obstructing the sewerage system. ``The drainage chamber has been shifted out so there is no problem,'' he says. Residents, however deny this. Jadhav adds that it was a policy decision to allow dead ends and road corners for zunkha bhakar stalls.``If the employees are misusing the area, that can be stopped. I understand the residents' opposition...that can always be sorted out,'' he says.

Chandrakant Kamble, however sees a casteist conspiracy in all this. ``The residents of the Sai Kunj building do not want a charmakar (cobbler) to run a zunkha bhakar stall,'' he says.

Subramaniam, meanwhile said that he would be inspecting the shop since with the court stay order, it should not be functioning at all.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.