Bhubaneswar: Three shopping malls including Big Bazaar at Patia will be demolished

Dainik Khabar

Bhubaneswar: Three shopping malls including Big Bazaar at Patia will be demolished
11 April 2011 - 3:46pm

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has ordered to demolish three shopping malls in the capital, Bhubaneswar for not providing sufficient parking space and violating the planning and building regulations.

The three shopping malls are Pal Heights at Jayadev Vihar, The World at Sastri Nagar and Big Bazaar at Patia.

The building plans, that were approved by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) were for commercial and residential buildings.

"After the violations came to the government's notice, we decided to raze these buildings", housing and urban development minister Badri Narayan Patra said.

According to the present norm, the authorities cannot approve shopping malls and buildings meant for retail business unless they allot 60 per cent of the total built area for parking, failing which clearance should not be granted.

However, due to lack of adequate parking space, people park their vehicles on roads, causing traffic chaos.

A few months ago, BDA had issued show-cause notices to these three shopping malls.Their hearing had also been held.

Finally, the government decided to demolish the buildings.

The minister also added that cases were pending against three other shopping malls in the city, Forum Mart at Kharvela Nagar, Pantaloons at Saheed Nagar and Vishal Mega Mart at Nayapalli for violating parking norms.

The malls were served show-cause notices and the hearing process is still on.