Residents of a high-end Worli building allege that the civic body is eyeing their prime property to build plush houses for its senior officers; corporation says the building is dangerous and it is only following the rule book.

The BMC on Monday evening snapped electricity supply to a plush seven-storey, seafacing Worli building which, RTI information has revealed, the corporation is eyeing to construct quarters for its senior officers.

The power supply to Kinara on the Worli Sea Face road was cut just days after the BMC stopped the building’s water supply to drive out eight families that are refusing to move to the alternative accommodations provided to them in Goregaon.

Though the BMC claims the building is dilapidated and thus dangerous to inhabit, the residents say it’s just a ruse to get them out of their houses so that the corporation can build plush houses for its employees at the prime location.

A few months back, an apartment in neighbouring Samudra Mahal was sold at Rs 1.5 lakh per square foot.

The residents have also acquired under the RTI the construction plans for the new building that the BMC wants to raise for its top officials on the plot where Kinara now stands. And to BMC’s promise that they would get new apartments in the redeveloped building, the residents who have dug in their heels point to the neighouring vacant plots where three buildings – C1, C2, C4 – once stood. These buildings were demolished in 2005 and their occupants moved to Goregaon with the same promise. Nearly eight years later, no new buildings have come and the people who moved to Goregaon are far from getting their houses back.

Kinara as well as the demolished C1, C2, C4 towers all housed project-affected people (PAPs) and some BMC employees. But these were not ordinary PAPs. Some of them had lost huge bungalows and large plots of land in prime locations to BMC projects. That is why, in return, they got these plush 1000 sq ft to 1600 sq ft sea-facing flats.

But now, BMC is threatening to pack them off to Goregaon.

While several PAPs have left as they were not able to take the BMC’s torture any more, eight families are not willing to budge.

Zavarih Sethna, 39, a businessman, and his father have refused to vacate their 1600 sq ft house. Zavarih’s great-grandfather Dhunjibhoy Rustamji Sethna lost a bungalow and a 2-acre plot he owned in Shivaji Park to a BMC project in 1928. The corporations compensated him by allotting him a bungalow nearby. However, in 1979 the corporation wanted this bungalow too and moved him to the 1600 sq ft apartment in Kinara.

Now, nearly 32 years later, the BMC wants the Sethnas to move again – this time to Goregaon.

Mridula Datta, 90-yr-old yesteryear actress was moved from her spacious Shivaji Park bungalow in the 70s to Kinara. She stays in her seventh-floor apartment with her daughter. There is no way she can even think of starting a new life in Goregaon.

Chandra Jagtiani, 84, was moved from her spacious Cadell Road house in Mahim to Kinara in 1979. The widow stays alone in her first-floor apartment with an attendant. Moving to Goregaon is not even an option for the Jagtiani, who has been bedridden for some years now.

Assistant Municipal Commissioner G South, Keshav Ubale said he us just following the procedure for evacuation of a dangerous building. “It’s a listed dangerous building. These people will have to move.”

Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte said the move to Goregaon is a temporary arrangement. “We can’t take their houses away. Once the repairs or reconstruction are complete, they will get their houses back.”

But the eight families of Kinara do not trust him. And for good reason. They know what happened to the project affected people who were driven out similarly from C1, C2 and C4 buildings.