Central Vista: National centre for arts temporarily shifted to Janpath Hotel

Jul 02,2021

The Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) shifted to Janpath Hotel on Thursday as part of the ongoing Central Vista project. The IGNCA building will be razed to make way for new modern secretariat under the project. 

Union Minister for Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri shared the information at the inauguration of the newly refurbished Janpath Hotel which will be a temporary home for the IGNCA till it shifts to a new state-of-the-art, purpose built and world class complex by 2023. 

“The renovated Janpath Hotel will function as a major resource centre for arts as well as research and public activities. It will provide a forum for continued creative pursuits and critical dialogue between and amongst the diverse traditional and contemporary arts,” he added. 

There was a need for modern infrastructure and better service integration including improved facilities for labs, archival rooms, special storage for archival material, documents, manuscripts, valuable art etc for a long time, Puri said on Thursday. 

Currently, the IGNCA is spread over 25 acres in Lutyens’ Zone. It has nearly 500 employees.

It will be shifted first to Janpath Hotel and then to Jamnagar House by 2023, and the existing IGNCA campus will be razed for construction of secretariat buildings.

As per the plan, these buildings are likely to start functioning by May 2023.

Thereafter, old bhavans including Shastri Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan and others will also be rebuilt as modern secretariat and are likely to be completed by mid-2024. 

Sources said that iconic North and South Block will be shifted during the last phase of the project. 

Sources said that the plan for Central Vista Avenue comprising Rajpath, leading from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and the new Parliament has been finalised.

The new Parliament building is likely to be completed by the winter session of 2022, while the Avenue is expected to be completed by end of 2021.

The Indira Gandhi National Centre of the Arts is spread over 25 acres in Lutyens’ Zone having nearly 500 employees.

It will be shifted first to Janpath Hotel and then to Jamnagar House by 2023. The existing IGNCA campus will be razed for construction of secretariat buildings.