Tamluk, Aug. 21: The East Midnapore administration today demolished four of the 19 hotels that had come up at Mandarmani after January 2012 in violation of coastal regulations.

The executive officer of the Digha-Shankarpur Development Authority (DSDA), Sujan Dutta, said: "The chief minister had said no hotel would be allowed to be built violating coastal regulations. But despite that, some hotels had come up at Mandarmani by flouting rules. Four such illegal buildings were demolished today."

More than 25 policemen led by the officer in charge of Ramnagar police station, Amiya Ghosh, were present during the demolition. The block development officer, Pratim Saha, supervised the drive.

A district official said that according to a coastal regulation zone rule, no construction is allowed within 200 metres of the high tide line. The 19 hotels are located within 200 metres of the line.

During a visit to Mandarmani, the chief minister had instructed the DSDA and the district administration not to allow any further construction, an official said.

According to Dutta, there were similar illegal constructions in the beach resorts of Tajpur, Shankarpur and Digha and the administration would soon demolish them.

A survey conducted by block development and block land officers in May 2014 had identified 19 illegal constructions in Mandarmani. The block development officer of Ramnagar II, Sukanta Saha, had summoned the owners of the hotels in the first week of November last year for a hearing on the instruction of the district magistrate.

The chairman of the DSDA, Sisir Adhikari, said there were 65 hotels at Mandarmani when the chief minister visited the place in 2012. Now, there are 84.