In the wake of threat posed by repeated landslides, Shimla's century-old prestigious Hotel Oberoi Clarkes owed by the Oberoi group has been shut indefinitely.
The hotel management on Monday decided to close the hotel after the retaining wall of the road leading to high court from the main road repeatedly caved in, threatening the hotel premises. The hotel has 34 rooms and 61 staff.
Eighteen guests putting up at the Oberoi Clarkes were evacuated and shifted to Oberoi Groups' Grand Heritage hotel Oberoi Cecil, Chaura Maidan.
Oberoi Clarkes general manager DP Bhatia said, "Our structural consultants have advised us that the building has become unsafe due to landslides. Consequently, we have decided to close down our operations for indefinite period."
The boundary wall and garden of Clarkes Hotel earlier had collapsed thrice due to digging activity, posing a threat to the main building.
Problem began in May when the construction of lawyers' chambers in Himachal Pradesh high court building was started in the hotel vicinity. This led to appearance of big cracks on the boundary walls of the hotel and the road leading to the high court. Onset of monsoon further aggravated the situation as the road caved in on July 12, disrupting traffic and forcing closure of the road, which remains out of bounds for traffic till date.