The officials of the Indore Municipal Corporation, who do not hesitate to demolish homes of ordinary people in the name of Smart City, are helping a private hotel establishment with illegal encroachment in South Tukoganj Area. Not just that, they are also supporting the management of the hotel to cover up the encroachment and pass it off as legal.
Surya Hotel and Marriage Garden had encroached upon 20,000 square feet of residential land for commercial activities without the required clearances. After complaints by the residents of the locality, the hotel management was ordered to remove the encroachment. However, the management reportedly “bribed” the municipal officials, who were supposed to ensure removal of encroachment, to hush the matter up.
The hotel management also filed a petition to stay the removal of the encroachment which was later squashed by the court. The hotel management had contested that it wasn’t an encroachment but just a shade to block sunlight. According to various newspaper reports, the air-conditioned shade was being used as a marriage garden.
The Indore Municipal Corporation had submitted in the Madhya Pradesh High Court that the hotel owner was lying and operating an illegal marriage garden by encroaching on a substantial portion of land. The court had directed the marriage garden to be removed in 10 days. However, the municipal officials did not remove the encroachment. After months of inaction, Municipal Commissioner ordered to remove of the encroachment and prohibited illegal commercial activities. But, the residents still await action.
In fact, the municipal officials are now helping the management to show the removal of encroachment on paper. A consultant has been hired to deal with the matter and legitimise the encroachment. The building officer of the Indore Municipal Corporation reported the removal of only 4,000 square feet of illegal encroachment on the property of a resident of the area. A visit to the place exposes how norms are being flouted despite orders by the court and the municipal commissioner. This is how the corporation officials are trying to save illegal construction of the hotel by claiming that the encroachment has been removed.
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