The Model Colony Parisar Sudharana Samiti has dashed off a letter of complaint to the Municipal Commissioner expressing surprise at the breaking down of part of the south-western compound wall between the Model colony quarry lake (Lakaki lake) and the final plot numbers 510 and 511 (from the Shirole property side) towards the construction of a 20-foot road for Shirole's private use.

Samiti president Zainab Poonawala and members Surekha Kher, S Pashankar and Rajeev Prabhu have reminded the PMC that even after diligently caring and looking after the lake for 14 years, the civic administration `all of a sudden' revoked its earlier permission to the samiti to take care of the lake.

Poonawala pointed out that in 1996 they had written to the then municipal commissioner Ramanath Jha, expressing fear that the lake's land owned by PMC was to be leased to the adjacent resident-owner (Shirole) for his convenience and had cautioned against such action. The members stressed that an agitation in 1985 to protest against the leasing of land to an educational institution and pumping out water had compelled the PMC to declare that the lake land would be used for the purpose for which it had been reserved in the development plan.

In 1995, the Supreme Court had also rejected the plea of the owner of the remaining two plots 501 A and 502 and had directed the PMC to acquire these plots for developing a lake garden. The standing committee also had passed the resolution to develop the lake and its surroundings as a `nature reserve'.

When contacted, city engineer Madhav Harihar said as per section 205 of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, the road can be prescribed as a public road. The commissioner, when authorised by the corporation, can lay out and make a new public street, agree with any person for the making of a street for public use through the land of such person, either entirely at the expense of such person or partly at the expense of such person and partly at the expense of the corporation and that such a street shall become, on completion, a public street, which shall vest in the corporation. The proposal had been approved by the general body, he said.

Shirole refuted the charges and said that the general body had sanctioned the proposal towards a public road on November 26, 1996 and the Commissioner had issued an order in April 1997. The plot was sub-divided on October 9, 1997 and the official demarcation was done, asserted Shirole. He said that once it is prescribed as a public road, it gets the legal status of a DP. Moreover we have given over 16,000 sq ft of property to the PMC. By utilising a mere 300 sq ft as public road, it can be used by everyone, not just for my private access alone, Shirole stressed.