February 18: Anant Chag's forehead is creased with worry. All those who took money from him promising him protection when he set up his jhopda on Kopri road, Thane, are nowhere in sight, and the roar of the bulldozer is drawing closer. "You may be offering me alternative accommodation, but I have lived here for so long that now I find it convenient," he pleads with Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) officials overseeing the demolitions being carried out as part of the road widening work. The TMC commissioner, T Chandrashekhar, present at the site, decides to intervene. "The place you are being given has all the adequate papers, so nobody can shift you out," he says, and adds, "this is a public place. How would you feel if outsiders came and occupied your house." Chag then begins to help workers put his belongings into the truck which will drive him to his new home. Relieved at having convinced yet another, TMC officials get on with the job .There's a "demolition man" on the loose in Thane, and nottoo many seem to be complaining. T Chandrashekhar, alternately referred to as Kadak Saab, has earned himself entry into that rare club of bureaucrats who do not bow down to political pressure. Predictably enough, even as this tough-talking, man-in-a-hurry commissioner oversees his latest project, controversy continues to dog him.The demolitions were necessitated by the Integrated Road Development Plan, one of the first projects Chandrashekhar announced on May 27, 1997, after taking over.The plan was, however, announced earlier than implemented. As he admits, "Constructing 4,000 km of new roads where none exist is no problem, but widening existing 40 km is tougher." While paperwork on the project began from August, 1997, itself, actual demolitions commenced only in November. Since then, the bulldozers and trucks have been driving towards a monsoon deadline.The demolitions, which razed both streetside shrines and Shiv Sena shakhas in their wake, expectedly raised quite a few hackles.Chandrashekhar, though, guffaws away any political pressure."It is understandable that some people are getting rubbed the wrong way up," he admits, adding, "I think if administrators get across their commitment to development and are willing to work hard for it, everyone will ultimately come around. It is all a matter of approach."Chandrashekhar's own "human touch" approach of visiting demolition sites and personally speaking to those about to be dishoused may have also helped ease out opposition. Says Munnawar Sheikh, caretaker of a mosque near Prabhat cinema, whose initial opposition to the razing of the mosque's chabutra was demolished by the commissioner, "If it is going to help make the city a better place why should we oppose anybody?"The commissioner even told his team that he would be keeping a tab on the goings-on from Coimbatore, where he was posted for election duty. The demolition work has also been captured on film. "People thought that I had got the work shot on video so that Icould find out what was happening in my absence. Actually, I had made it a point from day one to record the demolition operations would be filmed."By his own admission, the most "difficult and memorable" phase of the work has been the demolition of over 15 ground plus five buildings at the check naka, an area overrun by brothels and ladies' bars, allegedly run by senior corporators. "I had received several complaints about how women were finding it difficult to even walk across that area, as they would be immediately thought of as bar girls or prostitutes," he says. After the team refused to give in to bar owners' endearments and went ahead, the fan mail hasn't stopped pouring in, claims Chandrashekhar. "Letters and telephone calls thanking the team for its work make me realise that our direction is right," he asserts.At a time when most administrators prefer to shrug off responsibility and blame unfinished work on political interference, Chandrashekhar strikes a hopeful note as he says, "Ifadministrators strictly go by the rule book, then their work will be accepted."
