BHOPAL: How many of us can boast of a chief minister for a neighbour? Sonali Malhotra, a well-known dietician, can. “It is an honour for me,” she says. Sonali’s house in the posh Shyamla Hills locality of the city shares its boundary wall with 9, Civil Lines – the bungalow in which Kamal Nath, the newly elected chief minister of the state, currently resides.
The people living around the bungalow are elated that the chief minister is their neighbour, even if for few days. Nath is soon expected to move into the CM House, just across the road from his present abode. The bungalow was allotted to him in his capacity as a Member of Parliament. Earlier, his visits to Bhopal were infrequent. But after his appointment as PCC chief in May this year, he spent most of his time here and the huge property became a must-visit for the Congressmen. The day he was elected as the chief minister, security around the bungalow was tightened.
Though the main gate of the bungalow opens on a narrow street connecting the road leading to Bharat Bhawan to the one from Polytechnic Square to the CM House, the people living in the neighbourhood are happy that no restrictions have been placed on the movement of traffic on the street. In fact, with policemen deployed in the area, the flow of traffic is smoother than earlier. When asked whether having a VVIP as neighbour poses any problems, Sonali responded with an emphatic no.
“Though he has hundreds of visitors every day but most of their vehicles are parked on the premises of the bungalow and the street is clear. Traffic is more organised now and we are facing no problems at all,” Malhotra told Free Press. Similarly, another woman, who lives in the house in front of Nath’s said, “We have no problems due to him. Initially, the traffic was somewhat disorganised but thoda bahot to chalta hai…
It is like a function being organised at your neighbour’s.” “In fact, we are planning to meet and congratulate him. Earlier, we couldn’t get a chance to meet him because he used to come here only once or twice a year. But after becoming PCC chief, he has been staying here most of the time”. “We have no issues at all. In fact we are happy and proud that the chief minister is our neighbour,” said Rani Agrawal another neighbour of Nath.