Delhi govt to scout site for new Secretariat, bring all depts under one roof: CM
While launching the 'Delhi Ko Koode Se Azaadi' campaign from the premises of the Women and Child Development (WCD) department at Kashmere Gate, Gupta expressed displeasure over the dilapidated condition of the office.
'Witnessing the state of the building has left me extremely distressed. The time has come to construct a new, well-organised, and integrated Secretariat for all departments of Delhi,' she said.
'We will take steps in this direction starting today. A suitable location will be identified where the new Delhi Secretariat can be established, enabling all departments to function under one roof. We cannot leave our officials to work in such miserable conditions any longer,' she added.
Currently, the CM, ministers, and top bureaucrats handling charges of departments like Finance, Transport, Environment, Home, Education, and others, operate from the Secretariat located near Indira Gandhi Stadium in Indraprastha Estate.
It was called the Players' Building and was built as a hotel to accommodate the players participating in the 1982 Asian Games. The building was found to be 'seismically unsafe' in 2023 in a study conducted by the PWD.
Looking at the condition of the WCD office, Gupta said, 'It is shocking to think how officials entrusted with ensuring good governance in Delhi can work effectively in such deplorable circumstances. The ceilings are leaking, the furniture is broken, there are no proper chairs to sit on, cupboards are damaged, and the fans are in such poor condition that they could fall at any moment.'
She expressed concern that the building, which suffered a fire in 2021, has still not been fully repaired to date. 'Are we forcing our officials to work while putting their lives at risk?' she asked.
Attacking the AAP government, Gupta said, 'Those who called themselves an educated government were busy building lavish offices for themselves, but failed to provide even basic facilities essential for the working of our officials. The ones who spent Rs 70 crore on their own office couldn't spend even a few crores on these departments.'
The AAP government had proposed to build a new secretariat in 2021. It had proposed to demolish the PWD and GST buildings as well as Vikas Sadan at ITO and construct twin 35-storey towers.
The PWD had issued a tender in December 2021 to hire a consultant, but the project, estimated to cost around Rs 1,200 crore, did not take off. In 2024, the PWD had again come up with a draft proposal and an architectural plan and sent the file to former chief minister and PWD minister Atishi, but the project remained on paper.
Sources said that a few months ago, PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh reviewed the files related to the twin tower project.
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