The road recorded as 44 ft in the Development Plan (DP) of 1982 is to be widened to 40 ft. Currently the road is only 25 ft wide, rest is encroached.On Saturday, the ward officer Sahebrao Ghatge-Patil accompanied by a posse of 400 policemen and three bulldozers demolished all the shops lining the road as they were obstructing the road widening. The Shiv Sena office and a temple were left for another time. ``As the Sena office-bearers requested for some time and agreed to demolish the office themselves, I did not go ahead withthe demolition,'' said Patil.

Residents, however, are bitter that they were not given an opportunity to demolish their houses and shops, which would have reduced their losses considerably. Said Nasir Khan, who now has just one wall left of his two-storeyed house,``Most of the residents were not served notices by the ward office and hence the residents were caught unawares when the ward officers along with the policemen came to demolish the shops.'' He added that they were not even given time to retrieve their belongings. Another resident added: ``The entire colony looks as if it has been struck by an earthquake.'' The telephone connections have been severed and even electricity meters have been broken.

Even today there is complete chaos in Jawahar Nagar, as the basti is referred to in municipal records. Pipelines stick out of the drains and water overflows on the road. Shop-keepers have to keep round-the-clock vigil at their demolished shops. None of them have been given alternate accommodation, eventhough they were residing here for over 50 years and have proof of their stay.

When asked why weren't the residents given notices, the BMC refers to the year 1992 when first attempt to demolish these houses and shops was made. It says notices were given to the residents then when the proposal to widen the road was first made. However, five families managed to get a stay on demolitions till they were provided alternate accommodation and the BMC shelved its plan. But this time they demolished structures of these five families also as the land on which they were staying belonged to MHADA and Patil said MHADA had already provided them alternate accommodation.