New Mantralaya building scaled down after heritage panel objection

The public works department had originally planned a ground-plus-seven-storey structure, but the MHCC objected to the height, citing the site’s location within south Mumbai’s Art Deco precinct

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has decided to reduce the height of a new building being constructed in the Mantralaya garden for ministers following objections raised by the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), according to officials aware of the developments.

Mumbai, India - Jan. 22, 2026: Under construction Building inside Mantralaya compound in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, January 22, 2026. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The public works department (PWD) had originally planned a ground-plus-seven-storey structure, but the MHCC objected to the height, citing the site’s location within south Mumbai’s Art Deco precinct. So far, four slabs of the prefabricated structure have already been cast, officials said.

“We had planned a ground-plus-seven-storey building in the garden, but the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee has told us to construct a ground-plus-five-storey building,” said a senior PWD official.

The decision to construct an additional building was taken due to a space crunch at Mantralaya, where accommodating the full council of 42 ministers and their staff has become increasingly difficult. The PWD had floated a tender last year to construct the building at an estimated cost of ₹99 crore.

“Maharashtra has got a full cabinet after a long time,” the senior PWD official said, explaining why the state government commissioned a new building despite the space shortage being a long-standing issue.

As per norms, each minister is entitled to around 2,000 sqft of office space for staff. “But since there is no space, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde have their offices on the sixth floor, while some members of their secretariat sit on the seventh floor,” said the official. “Many ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party, the three main coalition partners, have smaller cabins and complain to their bosses as they feel insulted.”

Under the original G+7 plan, the building was to have a total built-up area of 7,770 sqm (83,636 sqft) and occupy 2,562 sqm of the 27,324-sqm Mantralaya plot. It was intended to house around 10 ministers, with three offices per floor, officials said. The PWD will now construct a five-storey building instead.

Mumbai’s Art Deco precinct has strict regulations for building height and design. As a result, several buildings along Marine Drive are barred from redevelopment, and violations in the past have attracted regulatory action.