Written by: vijaita-singh
2 min readNew DelhiAug 5, 2014 01:00 AM IST
First published on: Aug 5, 2014 at 01:00 AM IST
The NDA-led central government is in process of allotting a 7000 sq metre plot in Lutyen’s Delhi to Gujarat for constructing another bhavan (guesthouse), a demand that had been rejected earlier by the UPA regime.
Soon after she took over as Gujarat Chief Minister, Anandiben Patel wrote to Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu requesting 4,000-5,000 sq metres anywhere in central Delhi to construct another guesthouse. The ministry has already identified a 7,000 sq metre space on Akbar Road, which will be allotted to the Gujarat government once the Cabinet approves.
“We have identified the land and taken a decision on allotting it to the state government pending clearances,” said Shankar Aggarwal, UD secretary. Another senior government official said the plot would be allotted to the state on existing land rates fixed by the government.
Gujarat already has a guesthouse on Kautilya Marg and the state has been demanding another plot citing limited number of “suites” available in the present bhavan. Last year, 14 MPs, including Smriti Irani, had written to the Centre asking for space to construct a new Gujarat Bhavan.
Then UD minister Kamal Nath had told Gujarat that no land was available to build another guesthouse and the Centre had already allowed them to build an annexe in the existing premises.
The state had argued that UP, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had more than one guesthouses in Delhi. Uttarakhand was recently allotted another land on Rouse Avenue. The state was allotted a 1418.166 sq metres of land at Kautilya Marg in Chanakyapuri in 1998, which has 81 guest rooms, of which nine are suites, 68 are double-bed rooms, and 4 are single-bed rooms.
“Gujarat contended that the Bhavan only had one suite reserved for the Chief Minister and as well as the Governor and if both of them were in town at the same time, either one had to move to a five star hotel. They also said that the five star hotel stay was an added burden as it also involved the accommodation of the support staff,” said a senior ministry official.
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