V-P moves into new official residence, complete with secretariat, conference facility, pool

Dhankhar had performed a puja at the new residence on February 14, on the occasion of Basant Panchami, the sources said. After that, the process of shifting the residence and secretariat from the Vice-President House at 6, Maulana Azad Road began. On Thursday, the V-P secretariat was functioning out of the new premises, though some of the furniture was still being shifted from the old house. The V-P and Rajya Sabha websites, however, still showed the Vice-President’s old official address as of Thursday evening.

The new Parliament and the redeveloped Kartavya Path, earlier known as Rajpath — the other completed projects under the Central Vista plan — were inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The move to the new V-P house has been a relatively quiet one.

The V-P Enclave has come up on a 15-acre plot that earlier housed Defence Ministry offices.

Located near North Block and Rashtrapati Bhawan, the V-P Enclave has come up on a 15-acre plot that earlier housed Defence Ministry offices in hutments that had been present since before Independence. The complex includes the V-P’s residence and a separate secretariat building that had the VP’s office and a conference room as well. In the initial plan, a “sports complex” was proposed. Sources said a swimming pool was added later.

The Central Public Works Department had awarded the contract for construction of the complex to Jharkhand-based Kamladityya Construction Pvt. Ltd for `206.49 crore in November 2021. The project, expected to take 11 months, was completed earlier this year. Incidentally, the CPWD had in August 2023 barred Kamladityya Construction from participating in any new tenders for two years for delays in another project it was executing — the new campus of IIIT Kalyani.

According to sources, the cost of the project has gone up to about `300 crore. Spokespersons for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the CPWD did not respond to requests for comment on the final cost of the project.

Dhankhar’s move into the new house paves the way for the demolition of the 6, Maulana Azad Road bungalow that has served as the residence of the Vice-President of India till now. As per the government’s Central Vista redevelopment plan, the site of the bungalow will be used to construct one of the proposed 10 new government office buildings that will make up the Common Central Secretariat (CCS). As a part of the plan, construction of the first three CCS buildings, the new Prime Minister’s Residence and PMO is ongoing.