Mumbai: After approval, more demolition at Sonu Sood's hotel

Sonu Sood

Civic officials from the K West ward struck actor Sonu Sood's Juhu property on Friday afternoon after finding the residential building-turned-hotel had non-permissible alterations. Officials had visited the property to inspect if the plan of the building was concurrent with the approvals given by the municipal commissioner recently.

Sources in the ward office said it is routine procedure to inspect a site before closing a complaint. "There were certain alterations which we demolished. One example was a shed built on the building's terrace. This is non-permissible and can't be regularised through fines," an official said.

The shed covering the terrace was demolished by BMC's K West ward office

"We had to check and verify the approved and in-process proposals. Certain changes can be easily identified. As there was already one demolition notice served, we did not need to issue a fresh one. We went ahead with the demolition," said another official requesting anonymity.

"We respect the BMC's decision and whatever action they deemed fit, they have taken," Sood told mid-day.

Activist Ganesh Kusumulu, who had approached the Lokayukta over BMC's lack of action against the property for the past year-and-a-half, said, "This is just cosmetic action as BMC officials need to save face before the Lokayukta."

The Lokayukta had pulled up Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) K West ward office on January 16 over lack of action. The K West ward office sent Sood a demolition notice on February 4, while the municipal commissioner approved his pending applications on February 7.

mid-day had reported how, after being repeatedly turned down for over a year, Sood's application for approval of modifications to the building was suddenly okayed by the municipal commissioner, even as the local ward office sent him a demolition notice.

Assistant Municipal Commissioner V P Mote said, "We did an inspection and demolished alterations that cannot be approved. However, we are communicating with the Building Proposal department to know the present status of the approved plan. Further action will be taken accordingly."

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