There was no centrally-maintained data on the amount spent by various government establishments for renting office space in the National Capital Region, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
In his written response to a question by MPs Dipsinh Shankarsinh Rathod and Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya, Mr. Kishore said: “The details of rental premises/area-wise hired by the various establishments of government and expenditure incurred on those private rental premises/area-wise since their origin of lease agreement are not centrally maintained.”
The reply said the general pool office accommodation buildings given by the Directorate of Estates to various Ministries were “almost fully occupied”.
This comes even as the government has said the ongoing Central Vista redevelopment project, which includes the construction of 10 new Secretariat buildings, would lead to a saving of ₹1,000 crore in the form of rent for government offices. In public statements and in the Supreme Court as well, the government has said the project would save the amount a year, which is spent on renting office space.
To another question in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Kishore said the construction of the new Parliament and the redevelopment of the Central Vista Avenue were the two components of the larger project that had been started so far. The two projects would cost ₹1,289 crore this financial year. So far, ₹238 crore of the estimated cost of ₹971 crore for the Parliament building and ₹63 crore of the ₹608 crore for the Central Vista Avenue had been spent, he said.
