On any working day, one can see a few hundred motorbikes parked on the pavement outside the swank new Kartavya Bhavan, marring the careful manicure of the Rajendra Prasad Marg in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi.
These vehicles belong to lower and middle-level officials at the various central ministries and departments relocated to the newly established Kartavya Bhavan since last August.
The 10-building complex, built under the vaunted Central Vista project and set to become the Union government’s principal secretariat when fully operational, lacks enough parking space even for cars, let alone two-wheelers.
With only senior bureaucrats allowed to park, the rest come either by cab or riding their own motorcycles — which they park outside the walls, blocking the pavement illegally along a stretch of several hundred metres.
At least a half-dozen employees — assistant section officers, section officers, undersecretaries, deputy directors and directors — told The Telegraph that the complex, part of the government’s showpiece real estate project, was poorly designed. Some of them said it “institutionalised discrimination”.
“It’s very risky to park on the roadside. The monkeys often tear up the seat cover. Sometimes, it causes traffic problems,” an official said, requesting that his identity, designation and department be kept confidential.
“Residents complain about two-wheelers blocking the pavement. The rows of motorcycles parked outside affect the posh look of the complex. There’s always the risk of the vehicle being towed away by traffic police.”
For now, the traffic police, aware of the situation, are looking away but the employees are not sure for how long. And although the two-wheelers are within sight of the armed guards at the various gates of the complex, theft cannot be entirely ruled out.
Rarely, when a VIP convoy passes by, the security guards sound an advance warning. The employees then move their motorbikes elsewhere — sometimes having to park them several hundred metres away and walk back, wasting hours of office time.
So far, the ministries of home, petroleum and natural gas, and rural development as well as the department of personnel and training have shifted to Kartavya Bhavan-3, the third building in the complex. The other nine buildings are still unoccupied.
Earlier this month, the housing and urban affairs ministry issued an order relocating to Kartavya Bhavan-2 the ministries of defence, law, education, culture, agriculture, information and broadcasting, and chemicals and fertilisers along with the CBI and the CPWD.
An official said that vehicles (senior officers’ cars) at Kartavya Bhavan can be parked only in the basement, which means the parking space is roughly equal to the ground floor area. This is much smaller relative to the older complexes such as North Block, Shastri Bhavan and Krishi Bhavan.
Shastri Bhavan, for example, had an open space more than three times the building’s ground floor area where four-wheelers and two-wheelers could be parked.
The senior bureaucrats, though, have never had it so good, two middle-level officials said.
They said the chambers of the joint secretaries had attached washrooms, a step up from the old buildings where they had to use common washrooms, or at least reserved washrooms used by all senior officials.
The employees, however, complained that tea, snacks and meals at the Kartavya Bhavan canteens can cost up to twice the rates charged at the Shastri Bhavan or Krishi Bhavan canteens.
An email sent to housing and urban affairs secretary Srinivas R. Katikithala, seeking the government’s views on the officials’ grievances, remains unanswered.