State to construct new ₹99-cr G+7 building in Mantralaya

Maharashtra government plans to build a new complex for 42 ministers at Mantralaya due to space issues, with a budget of ₹99 crore.

Mumbai: Finding it difficult to accommodate the council of 42 ministers and their staff in the Mantralaya building, the state government has decided to construct a new ground plus seven-storeyed complex in the area that currently houses a small garden. The public works department (PWD) has issued a tender to construct the building at an estimated cost of ₹99 crore, sources told Hindustan Times.

The building will come up in an area that currently houses a small garden. (Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times)

“Maharashtra has got a full cabinet after a long time,” a senior PWD officer told HT, explaining why the government has finally commissioned a new building although space crunch at the state secretariat is an old issue.

As per norms, every minister must get 2,000 square feet of office space for their staff, the officer said.

“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 seventh floor. Many ministers from BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, the three main coalition partners, have smaller cabins and complain to their bosses as they feel insulted,” he said.

The new building, with a total built up area of 7,770 square metres or 83,636.28 square feet, will occupy 2,562 square metres of the 27,324-square metre Mantralaya plot. It will likely house 10 ministers, three on each floor, said sources.

There is no plan to construct a parking lot in the basement for ministerial vehicles despite the lack of space for parking, the sources added. The state has been considering building a parking lot for 400 vehicles beneath the garden housing the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the secretariat complex for a long time, but there has been no progress, so far.

Incidentally, four prominent government departments – public health, medical education, rural development, and water supply and sanitation – have their offices outside Mantralaya since a massive fire destroyed a portion of the secretariat in 2012. During renovation work, the then chief secretary, Jayant Banthia, had planned to do away with separate cabins for joint secretaries and other officers below their rank to free up some space. But the move was stalled when the officers threatened to go on a strike, and the four departments were subsequently shifted out of the secretariat.

The state government now plans to shift them into the Air India building, once the process of takeover – the state has purchased the building for ₹1,600 crore – is complete, said officials.