Indore Municipal Corporation demolished portions of the MMB Hotel at Chhawani Square on Friday to clear land required for a 24-metre road-widening project, less than 12 hours after the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed the hotel’s petition against the civic body’s encroachment notice.
A removal team reached the site in the morning with police personnel and building officers. The action covered approximately four feet on one side of the multistorey building and two feet on the other, according to the report by Times of India. Other encroachments obstructing the road-widening work were also removed.
Additional commissioner Pakhar Singh said the building was obstructing road widening planned under Indore’s Master Plan. The municipal corporation had issued the notice on April 7 through the Zone 11 building officer. The hotel challenged the notice before the High Court, but the court upheld the corporation’s action as legally valid on October 1. The hearing had concluded on September 8.
The demolition brings the civic body’s enforcement action into the implementation phase of a road project that had faced delays at the site. The planned road width is 24 metres, and the portions removed from the hotel were identified by the corporation as occupying space required for the widening.
The site had previously avoided demolition during an encroachment-removal drive in 2014 led by then collector Akash Tripathi. The hotel obtained a stay order at that time, and the obstructing portions were not removed. The civic body’s latest action followed the court’s dismissal of the hotel’s challenge to the notice.
Work to widen the road resumed in April this year, when several property owners removed obstructing portions of their buildings themselves, according to the report. The MMB Hotel did not remove the identified sections, resulting in continued legal proceedings and eventual municipal action.
The case highlights the operational challenge faced by urban authorities when road-widening plans require partial removal from existing buildings. In this instance, the corporation proceeded after the High Court upheld the legal validity of its notice, while police and building officials accompanied the removal team during the action.
The municipal corporation’s next step is to continue the 24-metre road-widening work at Chhawani Square after clearing the identified obstructions under the Master Plan.
