Old-timers rue Tilak Nagar’s ‘ugly’ transformation

Mention Tilak Nagar in Chembur and two diverse images cross the mind. A picture perfect LIG Colony of 112 ground-plus two-storey buildings built in mundane repetition by Mhada in 1965, tree-lined 60-ft-wide concrete roads, ample open space, two playgrounds, a cinema hall et al. Second, as an epicentre of the gangland led by the notorious Rajan Nair and his lieutenant Chhota Rajan, a reason good enough to be avoided by home-buyers and investors. All this, however, is history. The suburban township transformation from a home of working class families into a maze of concrete jungle and a realty destination of the upper middle class is arguably a signature achievement of sorts. Today, it is a home to more than 5,000 families residing in imposing highrises, surrounded by restaurants, salons, a car count probably outnumbering the number of apartments and vanishing open spaces.“Back then our homes were 120 sq ft with common toilet blocks on each floor. Everyone seemed to knew each other and were identified more by his or her building number. Now, the homes here have turned into sprawling apartments, but the space outside has shrunk. Unplanned growth and construction frenzy has turned our beautiful colony from a green residential zone into an ugly township,” said Madhu Kadam, a local resident who has been a witness to the change in his growing years here.Old-timers who took pride at the wide roads, the large tracts of tid-bit land around the buildings and the perfect stillness, rue the loss. “They sold us dreams of bigger homes, self-contained toilets and cash in the name of redevelopment. In the bargain, we have lost the peace,” said Nandagopal Sankar, a local.Though some of the old residents banded together and opposed the redevelopment plans, the miniscule minority was silenced into submission with threats from the gangland and a hostile administrative machinery.The construction boom and the rush to buy realty has transformed the demograpichs here. “It used to be a majority Marathi-speaking population and almost all of the earning members were blue-collar industrial units. The high costs of redeveloped buildings has led to a rush of migrant population,” said Kadam, adding that public infrastructure in Tilak Nagar has failed to keep pace with the exponential growth in population, architectural competition and increasing vehicle count.