PWD plans to renovate 'jinxed' Shamnath Marg bungalow in Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) Delhi Public Works Department is planning to renovate the “jinxed” 33 Shamnath Marg bungalow in the Civil Lines area, officials said on Monday.

The two-storey structure, lying vacant for years, has acquired a reputation among officials as “inauspicious,” with successive allottees reportedly being reluctant to move in.

“A tender has been floated to carry out ground levelling work, fix the false ceiling and make special sections within the bungalow,” an official said.

Other works, such as repairing water pipelines, removing damaged tiles and fixing the car parking area, are also part of the project, to be undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 56 lakh and is expected to be completed in 30 days.

Under the project, similar works

will also be carried out at the Lok Niwas Secretariat nearby. The bungalow once housed Delhi’s first chief minister, Chaudhary Brahm Prakash, who moved in after assuming office in 1952 but resigned in 1955, before the completion of his term, over an alleged scam.

In 1993, the bungalow was allotted to Madan Lal Khurana after he became the Delhi chief minister. Khurana, who did not shift to the bungalow but ran an office from it, also could not complete his full tenure and resigned in 1996.

In 2013, the bungalow was allotted to Shakti Sinha, the then principal secretary (power) of the Delhi government. He left it within four months.

Deep Chand Bandhu, the former industries minister of Delhi, was also allotted the bungalow. He died while in office in 2003.

Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit reportedly preferred moving to a much smaller bungalow on Mathura Road over the jinxed bungalow. Steeped in history, the property dates back to the 1920s, when the British developed Civil Lines as a residential enclave for senior officials.

Spread across a large plot, the estate includes four bedrooms, multiple drawing rooms, a spacious living area, fountains, a front lawn, an outhouse, and seven staff quarters. PTI SSM SSM RUK RUK