New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has started vacating the British-era North Block located in the Raisina Hills and shifting to a new building along the Kartavya Path, near India Gate, as part of the Narendra Modi government’s Central Vista plan to refurbish the heart of the capital.
While Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and a few joint secretary and additional secretary-level officers and their staff have already shifted to the newly-constructed CCS-3 building, the remaining officers and other employees will shift in the next few days, sources said on Wednesday.
The office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah is yet to be shifted but a process is underway, they added.
The iconic North Block building at Raisina Hills in Lutyens Delhi will no longer be home to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Ministry has been known by the address for nearly 90 years.
This week, several MHA offices started shifting to the Common Central Secretariat (CCS) building on Janpath as part of the Central Vista redevelopment plan.
The British-era buildings – North Block and South Block – house key administrative buildings such as office of the Prime Minister, and Ministries of Defence, Home, External Affairs, and Finance.
These red-sandstone buildings were built by British architect Herbert Baker and inaugurated in 1921. Once all the offices move out of both blocks, these will be turned into a museum. Named ‘Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum’, it will display an estimated 25,000-30,000 artefacts, and is likely to be one of the largest museums in the world.
On July 17, an order issued by the MHA in Hindi said the process of shifting all offices located at the North Block to CCS-3 had been initiated and nodal authorities designated for the smooth transfer.
As a part of the Central Vista redevelopment, the Centre had proposed a CCS of 10 office buildings and a conference centre on Kartavya Path to accommodate all Ministries. The first three of these office buildings are nearly completed.
