Maharashtra government gives 30-year lease extension for National Gallery of Modern Art plot

The state government owns the plot — admeasuring 14,896 sq m — and the structure on top of it. In 1984, it was given to the NGMA, run by the ministry of culture, on a lease period of 30 years at the nominal lease rent of ₹1 per annum.

The Maharashtra government extended the lease of its upmarket south Mumbai plot, which houses National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), for another 30 years on a nominal lease rent of ₹1 per annum. The decision was taken in the state cabinet meeting held on Tuesday. The lease of the plot expired in 2014.

Artist Prabhakar Pachpute at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Fort, Mumbai in April 2016. (Aalok Soni/HT Fille Photo)

The state government owns the plot — admeasuring 14,896 sq m — and the structure on top of it. In 1984, it was given to the NGMA, run by the ministry of culture, on a lease period of 30 years at the nominal lease rent of ₹1 per annum. After the lease of the plot ended in 2014, the ministry had requested the state for an extension, said a senior official from the state revenue department.

“The state government had to decide whether they want to increase the lease rent or continue with the existing nominal lease. After deliberations, it was decided that the state will not increase the lease amount,” the official said.

Situated at Colaba near Regal Cinema, NGMA was opened to the public in 1996. It hosts various exhibitions and art collections of famous artists, sculptors and different civilisations.