For Central Vista revamp, some ministries to move out of old buildings

NEW DELHI: Paving the way for fast-tracking the revamp of the country’s power corridor along Kartavya Path, some ministries will be moved to new buildings — permanently and temporarily — to allow reconstruction of their old addresses such as Nirman Bhawan and Shastri Bhawan.

For example the ministries of home affairs, rural development and micro, small and medium enterprises, and the personnel department will shift to the newly built CCS-3 (Common Central Secretariat) building. The housing and urban affairs ministry will move temporarily to KG Marg, around half a km from the Central Vista area.

This comes barely days after PM Narendra Modi had asked ministers and top bureaucrats to shift work from old buildings. The housing and urban affairs ministry on June 9 had issued an office order mentioning that its offices will shift from Nirman Bhawan to the newly built office complex on KG Marg by July 1. On Wednesday, the directorate of estates under the ministry issued a detailed circular specifying the space allotted to ministries and departments in CCS-3.

The entire home affairs ministry, personnel department and some offices of the external affairs ministry operating from North Block and Shastri Bhawan; petroleum and natural gas ministry operating from Shastri Bhawan; and the rural development ministry operating from Krishi Bhawan have been allotted space in CCS-3, as per the circular.

Sources said with the urban affairs ministry, which is spearheading the Central Vista redevelopment project, being the first to move out, many see it as a signal for other ministries to also temporarily move out of their current buildings for redevelopment of Nirman Bhawan and Shastri Bhawan in the next few months.

Officials said the two other CCS buildings along Kartavya Path will be operational soon, and subsequently, finance ministry offices will also move out from the North Block to another building. “Since these three (CCS) buildings will have space to accommodate more offices, a call will be taken soon to allocate space to other ministries like the health ministry,” said a source.