Overview

• On May 28, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued formal directives allocating the Metropole Hotel grounds to the Uttarakhand government for temporary public parking.
• Home Minister Amit Shah approved the proposal after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami highlighted the town’s acute shortage of parking spaces.
• The 10-acre site can accommodate over 1,000 vehicles, promising significant relief for Nainital’s persistent traffic congestion.
• Built in 1880 and once hosting figures like Mohd Ali Jinnah, the hotel was declared enemy property in the early 1960s and later fell into disrepair under encroachments.
• Authorities evicted 134 families in 2023 under Supreme Court orders and secured an ad-hoc No Objection Certificate in October 2024 before finalizing the parking scheme.