BMC awaiting papers to establish illegalities at Habitat studio

BMC is investigating illegalities at Unicontinental Hotel and Habitat Studio after Kunal Kamra's controversial song, awaiting necessary documents for action.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is awaiting some documents and plans to ascertain illegalities at the Unicontinental Hotel and Habitat Studio in Khar, where comedian Kunal Kamra had filmed the song referring to Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde as a traitor.

On Monday, BMC officials demolished a temporary shed on the terrace of the hotel and conducted an inspection of the premises. (Hindustan Times)

“We will be able to establish all unauthorised changes at the venue once we get the documents and plans by the end of this week. We will then initiate the process to remove the illegalities as per law,” Vinayak Vispute, assistant commissioner, H West ward, told Hindustan Times.

The song, shared by Kamra on his social media handles, sparked a row and prompted Shiv Sena workers to attack the venue. On Monday, BMC officials demolished a temporary shed on the terrace of the hotel and conducted an inspection of the premises. They also asked the owners for recent blueprints of the building, following which the latter submitted one document while another is pending, said Vispute.

The primary question looming before BMC officials is whether Habitat Studio, which commenced operations from the basement of the building in 2016, was functioning illegally.

“The building is over 70 years old, when basements were reserved for storage. It is possible that the owners had applied for permission to use it for commercial purposes, which would make the studio legal. But till now, we have not got any papers showing the same,” said an official from H West ward’s building and factory department.

Unicontinental Hotel has been functioning out of the building since 1971, according to the LinkedIn profile of Paramjit Singh Ghai, chairman of Ghai Hotels, which manages the property.

BMC’s building and factory department has a building plan from 1980, which mentions that commercial shops are located on the ground floor while hotel rooms are located on the first floor, said another official from the building and factory department. At present, while the ground floor is taken up by the hotel lobby, the first floor has a restaurant, he said.

“We are waiting for more recent plans from the building proposal department, which sanctions all plans. We can establish illegalities only after we get the latest approved plan and compare it with the structure today,” the official said.

BMC officials said the hotel was served a notice regarding an illegal, temporary shed on the ground floor about five years ago, which was subsequently demolished. No notices had been served for the shed demolished on Monday, they said.

Balraj Ghai, the owner of Habitat Studio, did not respond to questions from HT, saying he was busy.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, a group of prominent citizens including filmmakers Anand Patwardhan and Tushar Gandhi and writer Jerry Pinto issued a statement condemning Shiv Sena’s attempts to smother Kamra’s constitutional right to opinion.

“We accept that these people lack the intellectual ability for humour and satire...We sympathise with their limitations and volunteer to educate them,” said the statement.