‘Bridge hotel’ shuts after BMC checks in with a notice

After Mirror report, owners warned against conducting any business there.

A day before its opening ceremony, a 17-room hotel controversially built on the side of the Wadala bridge downed shutters on Monday after the city administration ordered the owners not to undertake any business operations there.

The BMC’s directive came a few hours after Mirror reported how Hotel Wadala Garden Inn’s glass entrance had been constructed right on Nana Fadnavis bridge’s pavement. The hotel’s front portion itself appears to hug the bridge, which connects Wadala East with West. The construction has left residents in disbelief — “how can a hotel come up on a bridge?” — and reignited anger over encroachments near and on the bridge.

The BMC said on Sunday that the hotel had not been granted any licence, indicating it might be illegal, and on Monday, the civic medical officer of health, A Ingle, issued an “inspection report warning” to the owners, saying no trade activity should be started. The huge hotel sign was then covered up with black sheets and furniture and flower pots, which had been lined up on the bridge’s sidewalk, were removed.

“The sanitary inspector conducted a review at the site and a warning against any trade activity without a licence was issued,” Keshav Ubale, assistant municipal commissioner, F North ward, told Mirror. “If they start any business on the premises, we will initiate legal action.”


According to Ubale, the plot where the hotel has popped up was earlier occupied by an embroidery workshop, which was slyly transformed into a bigger structure. The BMC had allotted the plot in 1956, but it later changed hands. “There was a modest embroidery workshop here. Under the guise of tenantable repair permission, they changed the interiors and the user, and increased the height of the structure, adding 17 rooms without approval from the building proposals department,” Ubale said.

In September, the building and factory department had issued a notice to the plot users under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. “A month before that, the estate department had initiated action and threatened eviction,” Ubale.

There appears to be some confusion in the BMC about the legality of the structure. Ubale refused to give a clear answer whether the hotel was an unauthorised structure. “I have asked the assistant commissioner of estate to ascertain the status of the structure before 1962,” he said. But Sanjay Jadhav, deputy engineer, building proposals department, said it had not given any permission for the structure, stating clearly: “It is an unauthorised structure.”

Ramesh Solanki, who co-owns the hotel, remained unavailable for comment throughout Monday.

Wadala residents, meanwhile, demanded that the hotel should be shut permanently. “We hope Monday’s action is not a temporary one. How could civic officials allow the structure to rise this close to the bridge? Housing societies get instant notices for every small infraction, but here, a hotel has come up and officials don’t know how,” said Smita Deshmukh. “Our biggest fear is that this structure will be eventually regularised.”