Indian Express 11.11.2010
MCD shifts to new address
144-year-old Town Hall may be converted into a heritage museum depicting history of Delhi
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is set to move to its new headquarters at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre on Thursday. The fate of its present address, meanwhile, has not been decided yet.
The 144-year-old Town Hall was earlier slated to be converted a heritage hotel, but later the civic body started working on a plan of turning it into a heritage museum. The decision is likely to come through after the shift.
Subhash Arya, Leader of the House, told Newsline that a portion of the building will definitely be reserved for a museum. “We want a portion (of Town Hall) should display the history of Delhi but the exact nature will be decided after the building is vacated and an assessment is done,” he said.
As of now, however, all emphasis is on shifting to the new Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre on Jawaharlala Nehru Marg near Minto Road where various departments will move in a phased manner till December 8. While the first set of offices to be moved are the control room, Estate, Education and Horticulture departments etc, the offices of the Commissioner, Additional Commissioners and Municipal Secretary will be the last ones to go to the building that was inaugurated in April. Shifting will be done in four phases.
On Wednesday, a few members of the MCD conducted a havan to ensure an auspicious beginning to their shift to the new headquarters.
The 28-storey Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre has been built at a cost of Rs 650 crore and is expected to cater to 20,000 people everyday.
It was built to bring under one roof the deliberative wing and different offices of the civic body, which looks after 96 per cent of Delhi’s area.
The Civic Centre has an auditorium with a capacity of 1,000, an art gallery, a restaurant, a 33KV sub-station for dedicated and uninterrupted power supply, waiting areas, fountains, an open-air theatre, three meeting halls as well as a separate media centre.
