Maharashtra government takes over Air India building in Nariman Point

Mumbai: Three years after the cabinet approved the plan, the state govt took over the Air India building in Nariman Point on Tuesday.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis presided over the deed of surrender between the public works department of the state and Air India Assets Holding Ltd, which owns the building.

“It will not only save rent but also bring offices together,” Fadnavis told TOI. In 2023, the state cabinet had cleared the plan to buy the Air India building to expand Mantralaya and house state govt offices there.

The cabinet had taken the decision to waive all unearned income, or transfer fee, and other penalties of Air India so that the state govt could take possession of the building soon.

The state govt paid Rs 1,601 crore for the building. With the acquisition, 46,470 square metres of space will be available for govt offices in the 22-storey building.

Officials said the state govt will save around Rs 200 crore in annual rent if all the offices currently housed in private buildings are moved to the Air India building.

Officials said it would take more than six months to make the building usable. The lifts are not working and a lot of interior work will have to be carried out. Even the central air conditioning system is not functioning since the building is over 50 years old.

The building opened on June 1, 1970. Designed by Manhattan-based architect John Burgee, it was among the first centrally air-conditioned skyscrapers in India. The 23-story high-rise featured six state-of-the-art elevators with piped music and was the first building in India to install an escalator, which transported customers from the street to the main booking office.

Topped initially by an illuminated metal centaur (Air India’s trademark logo chosen by founder J R D Tata), the building stood as an unmistakable centrepiece of the Marine Drive skyline. It housed the famed Air India art collection, which was meticulously curated for decades. The building was a target during the March 12, 1993, serial blasts, when a car bomb exploded in the basement garage.

In 2022, Fadnavis, who was deputy chief minister at the time, met the then civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and urged him to give preference to the state govt for the building. Apart from the state govt, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was said to be in the fray to buy the building.

Fadnavis had said that the state govt was facing a space crunch to house government offices in Mantralaya and the annexe building. “Met Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in New Delhi and requested to give the Air India building in Mumbai to the state government. At present, even with the Mantralaya and an annex building, the space for government offices is insufficient, hence the demand for this building. We had given this proposal when I was Chief Minister. But in the meantime, that proposal was withdrawn. After that we corresponded again. Currently, both the Reserve Bank and Maharashtra government have demanded this space,” Fadnavis had said in a tweet.

Officials said that the state had leased the sea-facing property to Air India in 1970 for a 99-year tenure. Officials said that as per land transfer rules, the state revenue department was entitled to recover a transfer fee (or unearned income) during transfer of lease which would have worked out to around an eighth of the market value.

“Air India had then sought a waiver of this payment as a special case also, which was approved,” an official said.