PM may shift to retirement bungalow before poll results

New Delhi: A sprawling bungalow on Motilal Nehru road is being readied for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who may shift to his post retirement abode before Lok Sabha results are out on May 16. The Prime Minister Office has instructed CPWD to complete all work in the bungalow by April 30 so that Prime Minister can shift anytime after that day, sources said.

The CPWD is carrying out renovation of the bungalow at 3 Motilal Nehru Road which was vacated by former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in February. Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur had visited the bungalow in February before finalising it. They are currently staying at 7 Race Course Road, the official residence of the Prime Minister. Constructed in 1920, the four-bed room bungalow is spread over 3.5 acre and has a bio-diversity park. It has office space that meets the requirement of a former Prime Minister. The bungalow has been painted afresh and all the floor, roof and plaster damages have been repaired at a cost of over Rs 35 lakhs. Earlier when Sheila Dikshit was residing, it had wooden flooring over the original mosaic work. Now the wooden flooring has been removed and the mosaic has been polished. The Special Protection Group (SPG) has surveyed the bungalow several times. CPWD officials said SPG is likely to handover its list of requirements soon, based on which infrastructure for security arrangement will be set up. Security arrangements will include CCTV cameras and frisking booths. They said an ex-Prime Minister is entitled to Rs 2.5 lakh furnishing. Dikshit had moved to the bungalow in 2004. Before her, the bungalow was official residence of Lt Governor of Delhi. NDMC officials said repairs have been carried out on the roads around the bungalow. With the allotment of a Lutyen`s bungalow, Singh and his wife would be entitled to occupy the house for their lifetime. Singh had to wait for over a month to shift to the 7 Race Course Road in 2004 as renovation work of the house allotted to Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not completed.