To meet the housing needs of the Delhi Ministers, the Expenditure Finance Committee of the State Government on Tuesday sanctioned Rs.10.17 crore for construction of six new bungalows. Spread over 23,942.23 square metres, these bungalows would be constructed within 15 months from the date of award of work.
Delhi Finance Minister A. K. Walia, who chaired the meeting of EFC, said of the bungalows, four would be constructed on a plot situated at 8 Raj Niwas Marg and the remaining two on a plot situated at 3 Attaur Rehman Lane. All these bungalows would also have a garage and servant quarters.
On the rationale behind going for such opulent housing for the Minister, Dr. Walia said the Ministers had been finding it difficult to function from their existing residence offices which are either situated in their private houses or in old-type accommodation provided by the Government.
Dr. Walia said the Ministers were also facing difficulty during public dealing hours in the morning as a large number of persons from their constituency and other places would descend at their modest accommodations for getting their grievances redressed.
He said it was decided by the Delhi Government that the new bungalows for the Ministers should be in a locality close to the Delhi Assembly and the Delhi Secretariat and then these locations were finalised.
The Minister said the EFC had also sanctioned Rs.6.94 crore for strengthening of Road No.25 or Dev Prakash Shastri Marg from T-junction Loha Mandi to R-Block, New Rajendra Nagar. He said this road caters to the traffic between Naraina Loha Mandi, Inderpuri, and important educational and office buildings like Pusa Institute and Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
