The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) approved the six-foot illegal extension on Tuesday after chairperson of the Improvements Committee, Digambar Kandarkar, was moved by the sheafs of letters thrust in his hand when he visited Vyan Prakash Vidyalaya last week.

``The students, teachers and parents gathered under the hot sun, under the impression that I had come to demolish the structure when I visited the school. The students also gave me letters pleading that the structure be spared since the school cannot be housed elsewhere,'' said an emotional Kandarkar, who added that it was solely because of the students that he had approved the proposal after taking the committee members' consent.

``If the premises were being used for some other purpose, I would have issued immediate instructions todemolish it,'' Kandarkar said. ``I have kept the students' letters safely,'' smiled the benefactor of 250 fresh-faced kids. ``If the portion in question is demolished, the upper storeys of the building will be inaccessible and finally, it is the students who will lose out,'' Kandarkar argued.

The staircase of the three-storey building is part of a six-foot illegal structure which protrudes on to a 60-ft road in the Development Plan. Kandarkar, however, said the BMC would insist that the school's trustees demolish a temporary, illegal structure located on the other side of the road.

The issue, however, is more complicated that that. Though the school's blueprint had been approved by the BMC's Development Plan (DP) Department before it was built, its boundary had crept on to the road. The issue was immediately raised by local Shiv Sena corporator Shubhangi Shirke but civic officials refrained from razing the unauthorised portion on two occasions following instructions from former chief minister ManoharJoshi, Shirke complained.

Next, the General Body of the BMC received a proposal from the state Urban Development Department, headed by Manohar Joshi then, to shrink the road's width by half the original 60 ft mentioned in the Development Plan. Shirke had, however, vehemently opposed this, claiming that Sena member of the Legislative Assembly, Suresh Gambir, had leaned on the government since he was a trustee of the school. Gambir has, however, denied the allegation.Finally, instead of narrowing the road to 30 ft, the BMC has pegged its width at 44-ft. Kandarkar said a structural engineer would also inspect the school building as Shirke had complained that two slabs had been laid in a month's time during the monsoon, while it takes at least 21 days to lay a single slab under normal circumstances.

``If we find that the structure is unsafe, we shall initiate action against the trustees. ``We cannot afford to jeopardise the lives of so many students,'' Kandarkar said.