Central Vista Redevelopment: Over 7,000 Defence Ministry Officers, Staff Set To Move To Brand New Office Complexes

In a significant development related to the ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project of the Government, more than 7,000 officers and staff of the Ministry of Defence are set to move into brand new offices at the Africa Avenue and the Kasturba Gandhi Marg from their existingdecades-old workplaces in a clutch of pre-Independence era hutments in the vicinity of the North and South Blocks, reports Hindustan Times.

On 16 September, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the new office complex of the Ministry of Defence at Africa Avenue, paving the way for the relocation to begin. The said complex is scattered across four blocks. Meanwhile, the complex at the Kasturba Gandhi Marg has three blocks and an office area.

Owing to this relocation, the Ministry of Defence will be vacating as much as 9.2 lakh square feet of space in these hutments and be taking up 9.6 lakh square feet in two new multi-storeyed complexes that are spread over a total area of 13 acres.

This would free up as much as 50 acres of land for the Central Vista development.

It should be noted that some of these hutments served as stables for British Army horses more than 75 years ago. As many as 27 wings of the Ministry of Defence, including a navy station INS India, the Armed Forces Clinic and a medical wing of the armed forces have been operating from these hutments for decades.