Annual spending on the renovation, furnishing and restore of the official residences of Union Ministers in Delhi’s Lutyens bungalow zone rose to a file Rs 92.35 crore in 2025-26, greater than thrice the Rs 27.47 crore spent in 2014-15, in response to info obtained by PTI by means of an RTI question.
The federal government spent Rs 547.68 crore on these works between 2014-15 and 2025-26 by means of the Central Public Works Division, which handles repairs, renovation and upkeep. Officers stated the 2025-26 determine was the best since 2014, citing inflation and the rising value of sustaining ageing buildings unfold throughout giant compounds in central Delhi.
CPWD officers have through the years pointed to issues resembling seepage, termite infestation, ageing electrical techniques and plumbing faults. There have additionally been plans previously, although by no means formally introduced, to raze and rebuild a few of the bungalows. “These are principally 80-90-100-year-old bungalows. Some, although not all, had even turn into structurally unsafe and wanted to be upgraded,” an official stated.
The bungalow zone was developed between 1912 and 1930 as a part of the constructing of New Delhi because the imperial capital and was later tailored for senior authorities functionaries after Independence. Apart from ministers, the bungalows are occupied by members of Parliament, senior judges and prime army officers, amongst others.
Historian and creator Swapna Liddle advised PTI that Edwin Lutyens gave his title to the Lutyens Bungalow Zone however had designed solely the official bungalows throughout the President’s Property round Rashtrapati Bhavan. “Most of New Delhi’s colonial-era authorities bungalows had been designed by architects of the Public Works Division beneath the British administration,” stated Liddle, creator of “Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi”.
Liddle added, “These bungalows mirrored the identical sample seen in residences that the British inbuilt Civil Traces in most Indian cities to accommodate their officers: an enormous compound, with ancillary buildings for the employees aside from the primary constructing. One such bungalow, presently occupied by Residence Minister Amit Shah on Krishna Menon Marg, as soon as housed Herbert Baker, the architect of the previous Parliament Constructing and the North and South Blocks.”
From 2014 to 2019, ministers spent a mean of Rs 26.78 crore a 12 months on repairs and upgradation. The common annual spending then rose to almost Rs 50 crore from 2019 to 2024. The spend was Rs 71.98 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 92.35 crore in 2025-26.
The RTI reply confirmed year-wise expenditure of Rs 27.47 crore in 2014-15, Rs 29.57 crore in 2015-16, Rs 30.10 crore in 2016-17, Rs 23.34 crore in 2017-18, Rs 23.42 crore in 2018-19, Rs 26.37 crore in 2019-20, Rs 53.87 crore in 2020-21, Rs 40.84 crore in 2021-22, Rs 73.86 crore in 2022-23, Rs 54.52 crore in 2023-24, Rs 71.98 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 92.35 crore in 2025-26. The CPWD didn’t present information for expenditure on the residences of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs who should not ministers, or on the workplaces of Union ministers and ministers of state.
The Union Council of Ministers has usually had round 70 to 72 Cupboard ministers and ministers of state. At Rs 92.35 crore within the final monetary 12 months, the typical value works out to about Rs 1.2 crore per minister, although the precise spending varies from one residence to a different. A employees member of a Cupboard minister advised PTI on situation of anonymity that probably the most frequent restore and renovation requests relate to electrical gadgets resembling followers and LED lights, plumbing work each few months, and alternative of ground tiles each few years.
An RTI response in September 2009 had stated that between 2004 and 2009, the federal government spent a cumulative Rs 93.50 crore on the upkeep and renovation of bungalows allotted to MPs and Union ministers.
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