Campa Cola residents protest outside Prithviraj Chavan's house in Mumbai

In a bid to save their homes, around 200 residents of the Campa Cola compound protested outside chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s residence on Monday morning.

Chavan assured them of his support and sought a representation from them before taking a legal opinion in the matter.

The residents, wearing black dress and carrying placards, disrupted traffic at Malabar Hill for some time.

“We appealed to him to look into the matter as 140 families are affected. He has supported us and asked us to give a representation on the matter to take a legal opinion,” said Nandini Mehta, who was part of the delegation. She said the representation will be given on Tuesday (today).

The residents said they are now pinning their hopes on  the chief minister, claiming that he has discretionary powers to save their flats, which are set to be demolished after November 11, following an order of the Supreme Court.

“Instances of regularisation of such illegal structures in other states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Jharkhand were also brought to the chief minister’s notice and we appealed to him to exercise his discretionary powers to save our homes,” said Mehta.

Another resident said they are hoping for a positive outcome from the CM as 140 families from 35 floors will have to vacate their flats by November 11.

“The CM has assured us that the matter will be taken up at the earliest,”added the resident.

Bharatiya Janata Party member of legislative assembly Mangal Prasad Lodha and leader Shaina NC, Shiv Sena ‘s member of Parliament Anil Desai and leader Rahul Narvekar also joined the residents.

Government officials said a legal opinion would be sought from the advocate-general on the matter, given the complexity of the issue.