CM residence gets royal treatment

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad will live in a 66-room palace8212;his official residence8212;which the state Government is renovating at a cost of Rs 11 crore. This is the sixth Chief Minister8217;s official residence in the state, which will be renovated at the expense of the public exchequer since an elected Government returned to power in J-K in 1996.

The decision to convert Hari Niwas8212;a palace of the Maharaja of J-K8212;into an official chief ministerial residence was taken by the state cabinet. Work on the residence has begun and is expected to be completed within 6 months. Earlier, the palace housed the Joint Interrogation Centre JIC and the headquarters of the J-K Police8217;s Intelligence wing CID.

Sources reveal that the expenditure may cross Rs 11 crore, especially because it includes setting up of 15 presidential suites overlooking the Dal Lake. Azad says since there was no designated CM8217;s residence in Srinagar, Hari Niwas was the ideal place, and it is located at a secure place. Azad has been living at the J-K Bank Guest House near Raj Bhavan, where public money was spent for its expansion and other constructions, keeping in view its security requirements.

Azad is not the only one spending lavishly on doing up his home. Former CMs Farooq Abdullah and Mufti Mohammed Syed earlier spent huge amounts of public money for the same purpose.