But the people are far from amused. Furious at the ``insult'', they say cleaning choked gutters and other civic problems that abound will obviously take a backseat if officials decide to play games with the people afflicted by them the most.

When Rokde did not respond to repeated complaints about the collapse of civic amenities at Bandra (East), corporators led by Congress MLA Kripa Shankar Singh and district Congress President Kamruddin Merchant reached his office at Bandra (W) at around 10 am today.

The drainage system in the area has been neglected to suchan extent that sewage water from the nallahs has spilt over into the slums next door. Worst affected are the Behrampada hutments and a part of Kherwadi as well, they say. Also, repeated requests to repair the badly potholed service road in the area did not elicit any response from civic officials, corporators explain.

As the last resort, a delegation of over 100 people went to petition Rokde to take ``immediate action'' at his office this morning. However, being in a meeting, he sent word saying he could meet them only at 1 pm. Singh, Merchant and the corporators decided to wait since he had declined to give appointments earlier. At around 1 pm, Rokde emerged from his office and went to his car without even taking cognisance of the waiting delegation. As he was getting into the vehicle with his escort, some members of the delegation gheraoed him and screamed, ``DMC palala (DMC is running away).''

Eyewitnesses say some women members of the delegation lay down in front of his car, at which point he offeredto return to his office and meet a few representatives. By then, police had arrived but as the delegation started returning to his office, Rokde gave them the slip. With a police guard, he turned back, went back to his car and then drove away.

``This is unpardonable... an official cannot refuse to meet peoples' representatives. If this is how they behave with an MLA, one can imagine the plight of common citizens who approach civic officials,'' Singh remarks. He subsequently filed a complaint with the police.

What has irked him and the others is Rokade's evasion tactics. ``We did not take out a morcha or create a ruckus. He told us to wait for three hours and we did. He had no business to run away like that,'' Singh adds.

Many in the delegation believe Rokde must apologise, failing which they will make it into an issue of abusing official power. Rokde did not comment on the incident but civic officials admit that if the fracas continues, the main issues of repairing nallahs and cleaning choked gutterscould get sidelined.