Unauthorised hotel building of SDPI leaders cleared in Udupi 

A scrap shop on about 250 sqft area existed on the land belonging to Jamia Masjid prior to 2018; leader alleges vendetta

Udupi City Municipal Council personnel cleared an allegedly unauthorised hotel building belonging to local SDPI leaders in an early morning operation in Udupi on March 26. 

Zara Family Restaurant on a plot belonging to the Jamia Masjid on Mosque Road in the city, owned by Udupi District SDPI President Nazeer Ahmed and his brother Basheer Ahmed was ordered to be demolished in 2018 by the CMC, according to Municipal Commissioner Uday Shetty. The owners obtained a stay on the demolition order subsequently. 

Mr. Shetty told The Hindu that the stay order was recently vacated, and the CMC resolved in its meeting to go ahead with the demolition. The building did not have any building license, nor the hotel had the trade license to conduct the business, he said. 

A scrap shop on about 250 sqft area existed on the land belonging to Jamia Masjid prior to 2018. The brothers renovated the premises and established the restaurant in about 1,800 sqft area without any approval from the local body, he said. The owners themselves were removing the structures and CMC personnel were overseeing the same, he said. 

However, Mr. Basheer Ahmed told The Hindu that the action of CMC smacked of political vendetta. Just because they were office bearers of SDPI and supported the recent Hijab issue, the building was being demolished, he alleged. Their application to CMC for building plan approval was kept pending even as a portion of the property had the door number, he said. The court case was still pending, he maintained. 

CMC personnel in large numbers were present along with adequate police security led by Town Police Personnel inspector Pramod Kumar. Udupi Deputy Superintendent of Police Sudhakar S Naik oversaw the security arrangements.