Tuesday, 15 OCTOBER 2024 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Ministry of Home Affairs has granted permission for the construction of a surface parking facility in the Metropole hotel compound in Nainital city. This hotel was built by the British in 1880 and owned subsequently at the time of the country’s independence by the then Raja of Mahmudabad. The hotel complex was declared enemy property in the 1960s after its owner migrated to Pakistan after partition.
Earlier this year, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami sent a letter to the Home minister Amit Shah on June 25 and also met him after that, requesting permission for developing a parking facility in the Metropole complex. Nainital district magistrate Vandana Singh informed that after removing encroachment from the enemy property Metropole complex, a proposal had been sent to the MHA for the development of a surface parking facility at the site. The permission for this was granted by the Government of India, which is the custodian of enemy properties. The DM further informed that Rs 21.81 crore will be spent on developing the said parking facility along with the construction of a ring road. The consistently rising number of tourists visiting Nainital has made the lack of parking space a major problem in this popular hill station. After the DSA and Metropole parking get fully occupied, there is hardly any space for tourist vehicles in the city, which also results in considerable traffic congestion. When the vehicular load increases, the authorities have to stop the tourist vehicles outside the city limits which also causes inconvenience to the tourists and other visitors. The DM said that development of the Metropole complex parking in the Mallital area of the city will resolve the parking issue for both locals and tourists in the future. Public Works Department officials said that the complex in question covers an area of 8.72 acres out of which the parking will be developed on 8.22 acre area.
