Lucknow: Come Thursday, Uttar Pradesh will have an address in Navi Mumbai, adjacent to India`s commercial capital.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will inaugurate an Uttar Pradesh state guest house built on a 2,939.82 square meter plot at a cost of Rs 32.43 crore, fulfilling an 18-year-old-dream of his father, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, official sources told a news agency.
The Chief Minister will fly to Mumbai with a high level official team for the inauguration ceremony and would also interact with some industrialists and the media, the sources said.
The guest house was mooted way back in 1995 by the elder Yadav. He could not proceed with the idea as his government fell and the idea got lost in the successive governments thereafter.
The land however was purchased (plot no 36) near sector 30 A, in front of the Vashi Railway Station, at a cost of Rs 1.66 crore from Small Industries Development Corporation (Sidco).
The task of constructing the guest house was given to Uttar Pradesh Rajya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN) which after drawing the layout and map of the structure estimated the cost of construction at around Rs 9 crore.
Facing fund shortages, officials decided to involve other state corporations in the construction and to run it as a commercial venture.
The issue however dragged as there was no unanimity between state officials on the involvement of state`s corporations. Meanwhile efforts to make it self-financed and a public sector undertaking also miserably failed.
Construction of the guest house again speeded up when Mulayam Singh Yadav became the chief minister again in 2005 after which a state committee headed by his younger brother and public works department (PWD) minister Shivpal Singh Yadav approved the layout plan in 2006.
Rs 5 crore was sanctioned and the overall cost of Rs 11.88 crore was also approved Feb 21, 2007.
But with escalated costs, the guest house construction slowed till Akhilesh Yadav was worn in as state`s chief minister in 2012 and he sanctioned Rs 32.43 crore for completing the guest house in Mumbai.
The guest house building has a basement and five floors. While the electrical and fire fighting systems have been stacked in the basement, it also has a car parking.
The first floor has five plush, air conditioned guest rooms, two VIP suites and a women`s resting room.
On the second floor there are two guest rooms, one meeting room, two VIP suites and a VIP room while the third would have a pantry, dining room, kitchen, a VIP suite, two guest rooms, one convention hall.
The fourth floor, all of 399.50 square meters, will house one guest room, chief minister`s suite plus dining room, office of the officer on special duty (OSD) and a retiring room. The terrace has a glass dome and some greenery, officials informed a news agency.
IANS
