Patrakar Bhawan in Bhopal demolished, MP govt promises new one

Patrakar Bhawan in Bhopal'sMalviya Nagar was on Monday demolished by the city's civicbody after the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected reviewpetitions of journalists about its lease renewal

The razing of the building, constructed 50 years agoclose to the MP Assembly complex, began at 7am by a BhopalMunicipal Corporation squad and continued till evening

MP Minister for Public Relations PC Sharma said, "Theaction was taken after Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected thereview petitions of various journalists' organisations aboutthe lease renewal of Patrakar Bhawan. A new media centre withfacilities for journalists would be constructed on this land." Speaking to PTI, BMC commissioner B Vijay Datta said,"The district administration had handed over the possession ofPatrakar Bhawan to the Public Relations Department couple ofdays back following the HC decision." The BMC had received a directive from the districtadministration to raze this building as the Public RelationsDepartment wants to construct a world-class media centre inits place, Datta said.