Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) plans to construct an ‘Integrated Control and Command Centre’ at the “jinxed” 33 Shamnath Marg bungalow in Civil Lines area, officials said on Friday.
The two-storey structure, lying vacant for years, has acquired a reputation among officials as “inauspicious”, with successive occupants initially reluctant to move in.
“A tender has been floated to hire a consultant to design the layout plans and other aspects of the Integrated Control and Command Centre at the location. The project report has to be submitted in two months time from date of award of work,” an official said.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in this year’s budget announced a centre, which will be designed to serve as the central control room to manage any disaster in the city.
According to a plan afoot, the consultants will prepare a detailed project report, with overall cost estimates, maintenance cost and manpower requirement, for the project costing around Rs 17 lakh.
The bungalow once housed Delhi’s first chief minister, Chaudhary Brahm Prakash, who moved in after assuming office in 1952 but resigned in 1955 before completing his term following an alleged scam.
In 1993, the bungalow was allotted to Madan Lal Khurana after he became the chief minister. He didn’t move in, instead, and ran an office from it, and resigned in 1996 before he could complete his term.
In 2013, the bungalow was allotted to Shakti Sinha, the then principal secretary (power). He left it within four months.
Deep Chand Bandhu, a former industries minister in the Delhi government, was allotted the bungalow. He died during his tenure in 2003.
Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit reportedly preferred moving to a much smaller bungalow on Mathura Road.
Steeped in history, the property dates back to the 1920s, when the British developed Civil Lines as a residential enclave for senior government officials.
Spread across a large plot, the estate includes four bedrooms, multiple drawing rooms, a spacious living area, fountains, a front lawn, an outhouse, and seven staff quarters.
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Remembering Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia
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