New admin tower to seat officials of government departments

Since 2010, officials have been looking at an alternative site for shifting some of the administration departments, or construct a new building altogether as they had found the secretariat to be unequipped to handle the volume of people, and extremely crammed due to its close proximity to the district court.

An administrative tower will soon be constructed, likely at a site near the mini secretariat from where all government departments will operate out of, district administration officials said Saturday.

An administrative tower will soon be constructed, likely at a site near the mini secretariat from where all government departments will operate out of, district administration officials said Saturday. (HT File Photo)

Additional chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora visited the site where the tower is expected to be constructed, officials maintained. Arora also held a meet with the administration officials at the Public Works Department (PWD) rest house in Civil Lines, where the idea of such a tower was discussed.

Since 2010, officials have been looking at an alternative site for shifting some of the administration departments, or construct a new building altogether as they had found the secretariat to be unequipped to handle the volume of people, and extremely crammed due to its close proximity to the district court.

“During the meeting, Arora also formed a committee that will compile a layout plan for the administrative tower. The plan will include allocating spaces for parking space, residential areas for officials and staff, community centres, and the routes leading to the tower,” said the official spokesperson of the district administration.

Officials said the tower can have three levels of basement parking, and that the existing vacant land opposite the mini secretariat can be utilised for constructing a multilevel parking space.

Further, traffic police officials were also directed to compile a traffic plan for the administrative tower.

Arora further formed another committee, comprising divisional commissioner Mohammed Shayin, and deputy commissioner, Amit Khatri, for deciding which offices need to be shifted to the administrative tower, and which at the mini secretariat.

Built in 2004, the mini secretariat, the main office of the administration, sees a daily footfall of over 3,000 people. It houses the offices of the deputy commissioner, the DCP (crime), the sub-divisional magistrates, the revenue department, the labour department, the transport department, and the education department.