6, Flag Staff, a.k.a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ may now be Delhi state guest house

A government official said Delhi needs a state guest house for visiting dignitaries. “The city does not have one, unlike other states. Converting the property (6, Flag Staff Road) into such a facility is being contemplated given the area and the location it occupies,” the official said, adding that a final decision is awaited.

Flag Staff Road falls in the Civil Lines area that houses the Raj Bhavan, the Delhi Assembly and the Secretariat.

The official added that in the 1990s, an adjacent property, 33, Sham Nath Marg, had been identified as a state guest house. “After three to four years, the idea was dropped. Delhi has not had such a guest house since then.”

Under the AAP government, 33, Sham Nath Marg, was the address of the think tank Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi that it had set up to advise it on policy.

Constructed in 1942, the 6, Flag Staff Road, bungalow initially had five bedrooms in addition to an office space — one of the biggest such properties outside the Lutyens Delhi area. Since the 1960s, the premises have been under the ownership of the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD).

Earlier, the property was home to veteran Congress leader Choudhary Prem Singh, who served as Speaker of the Delhi Assembly twice, with the bungalow then allotted to bureaucrats serving in the Delhi government.

The AAP government decided on its renovation following a roof collapse during the 2020 monsoon, followed by a similar incident at one of the toilets by the time the Covid pandemic had hit. A structural safety audit of the house reportedly showed the need for a renovation.

Kejriwal moved into the property with his parents, wife and two children in 2015 and occupied it till October 2024. He vacated it a few days after stepping down as Delhi CM, and moved with his family into the 5, Ferozeshah Road, bungalow officially allotted to AAP Punjab Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal.

For three days, Kejriwal’s successor as AAP CM, Atishi, stayed at the house. But then, on October 9, she was asked to vacate the premises by the PWD, which said an official “handover” of the property by Kejriwal to it had not happened. The PWD cancelled its offer of allotment to Atishi in January this year.

During the campaign for the Delhi Assembly elections early this year, both the BJP and Congress raised allegations about the money spent on the revamp, particularly at a time that people were battling Covid hardships.

The BJP declared that if it came to power, its CM would not live in the ‘Sheesh Mahal’. Senior BJP leader Vijender Gupta demanded razing of the property and returning it to its “original state”.

Soon after the BJP was sworn in, its government made public a Comptroller and Auditor General report on 6, Flag Staff Road. It said that in March 2020, the then PWD minister, Satyendar Jain, had proposed remodelling the residence on the ground floor and the construction of an additional storey, declaring it “most urgent”. The CAG report also said that while the preliminary cost estimate was Rs 7.91 crore, it had shot up to Rs 33.66 crore by the time the renovation ended in 2022.

BJP CM Rekha Gupta is currently working out of her family home at Shalimar Bagh. The search for a house for her continues.