Attention was especially rivetted on a patch of land, the size of a handkerchief, on the football field of a local school, where three helipads were constructed in record time - the first two attempts were washed away by the rain in quick succession. Also, the Rs 2 lakh lavished on arrangements, including Rs 70,000 on the helipad, and the sudden efficiency of the local administration, have left residents of Vasai gasping in disbelief. All this for four VVIPs' short date with a Vasai bank's silver jubilee function? After all, Vasai, Thane's fastest developing suburb, still lacks even basic amenities. Why can't the authorities show thesame enthusiasm and extravagance towards the taluka's own residents, they wonder.

If Union Home Minister L K Advani, who cancelled his visit at the last moment, had indeed arrived, he would have been the first central minister to visit Vasai after the late prime minister Indira Gandhi in the early '80s.

At least the others - Union Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik, the state's Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, Minister of State for Housing Raj Purohit and Bharatiya Janata Party Mumbai unit president and MLA Kirit Somaiya - kept their appointment with the tehsil. Forty police officers, 150 constables, about 15 Black Cat commandos from New Delhi provided the requisite Z-category security cover while the taluka's Public Works Department (PWD) had its hands full constructing the helipad. It took 72 hours and three attempts before the 40 ft x 40 ft structure was built. The second time it was poised for completion, thundershowers penetrated the protective tarpaulin strewn across it and left smudges onits surface, necessitating a makeover.

Finally, the tiny tarred patch was ready on Saturday but not before a spat between the PWD and local police. On Friday, when the police were told that the possibility of building the helipad was remote and that they should therefore apprise the Union Home Ministry of this, a police officer at the taluka level in charge of security allegedly said there was no option but to deliver the goods ``otherwise it would be construed as a failure on the PWD's part to do its duty'', a PWD official told Express Newsline.

Vasai's residents, however, are still incensed at the number of times their pleas for the taluka's development have been turned down on the `shortage of funds' pretext. Moreover, after all the heartburn, the Home Minister cancelled his visit. But the state's deputy chief minister kept his own appointment, making the angst over the vexed helipad worth the while.

Of course, he couldn't have travelled by road, for the potholed ride would have been much toobumpy. But that's precisely the point. Roads and other basic amenities in Vasai... they scarcely exist!