A fairy tale in concrete

A fairy tale in concrete
AYSHWARIA VENUGOPAL

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 23: Perched near Delhi's river of divide, the Yamuna, the panoramic view of the city that the new secretariat commands is a perfect foil for the serene, old world charm of its predecessor, the Vidhan Sabha.

Soon to be the seat of the Delhi government, the new secretariat at ITO took 20 years in the making and has had to beat a number of jinxes getting there. Originally, the building was meant to be a hostel for sportspersons but over the years it stopped short of being a hospital and a hotel among other things.

Partially turning its face from the cluster of jhuggis on one side, the building's project managers have decided to capitalise on the view of the city's skyline that its elevation provides and the river that meanders like a moat round it.

It is no wonder that the prized rooms are the ones that present both aspects. Most rooms including the Chief Minister's have floor to ceiling windows looking out into terraced gardens.

A huge flight of steps that looks ideal for one of those ceremonial occasions leads up to the reception. The building itself has nine floors, including the ground floor, besides one composite storey. There are three wings on each floor.

According to project manager D.S. Sachdeva, the Chief Minister's room is in the core of the A-wing of the second floor. The Cabinet Ministers will be on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors with two of them on each floor.

The reception is tiled with brown granite and has a winding staircase that leads to the CM's section. Besides the rooms for the CM and her staff, there is a separate room for Cabinet meetings.

On the ground floor is a canteen managed by the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation. It is going to start cooking soon. Also, there is a small 10-unit shopping complex that will house a grocery, chemist, a Mother Dairy outlet as well as a bank.

At the centre of this complex is a multi-purpose hall. Besides this, every floor has its own pantry and dining room and separate toilets for men and women.

According to PWD officials at the site, the river side at the secretariat is going to be landscaped (there are already ducks there!). A jogging track has been built and a room for a gymnasium has already been allotted. There are no machines there yet but the word is that a membership system will allow private members to use the facilities.

Intended to be a hi-tech secretariat, the entry card system here has been developed by Johnson Controls. Called the proximity card based access control system, it is a electronic security system for areas that have to be regulated.

Access is okayed when the proximity card is presented at a certain distance from a calculator-like card reader fixed at the entrance. The reader which is linked to the validation software, reads the card and gives access as defined by the software. Once entry is obtained, exit by pressing a button on the other side of the door.

The new secretariat will have uniterrupted power supply from a dedicated sub-station. The open office module for the staff is already being used by some departments who have shifted here. While some parts of the building are still in a prepartory phase, the departments are slowly moving in.

Though the building is centrally air-conditioned and uses heat reflecting glass for the windows, there are those who are sweating it out sinc the blinds are yet to be provided.