Ministers Acharya, Ansari brush aside Vaasthu fears

Ministers Acharya, Ansari brush aside Vaasthu fears
Vikasa Soudha to see some life, finally
Deccan Herald

At last two ministers have decided to shift their offices to the Vikasa Soudha from the Vidhana Soudha. Medical Education Minister Dr V S Acharya and Labour Minister Iqbal Ansari will be shifting to the Vikasa Soudha in a couple of days.

Sources in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) told Deccan Herald that these two ministers had communicated their decision to them.

The much-hyped Vikasa Soudha was built mainly to reduce congestion in Vidhana Soudha by shifting offices of some ministers from Vidhana Soudha. Similarly, the secretariat sections of the departments related to these ministers were also to be shifted from the Multi-storied Building and other buildings. The idea was to ensure proper co-ordination within different sections of the departments by housing them in the same complex.

Accordingly, 14 ministers were supposed to shift their ministerial offices along with secretariat offices of their respective departments. Though 13 of the 14 departments have shifted their offices to the new building, none of the ministers have shifted so far though their offices in the Vikasa Soudha were ready for occupancy since August 2005. The reluctance of the ministers to shift to the new building, which has all the modern facilities, is being attributed mainly to the perceived “Vaasthu” fears. According to sources, several ministers fear that the new building which is an extension of the Vidhana Soudha towards the southern direction might not support their political growth. Hence they are said to be dilly-dallying over shifting to the new place.

Of course, none of the reluctant ministers have officially cited “Vaasthu fear” as reason for not shifting to the Vikasa Soudha built at a cost of Rs 148 crore. The DPAR is said to have issued two reminders in the last seven months to the 14 ministers asking them to shift to the new building.

While most of them have not bothered to reply to the reminders, some of them are said to have expressed their wish to continue in the Vidhana Soudha itself.

Some of the ministers are also said to be not interested in shifting out of the Vidhana Soudha as they think that they would be going away from the power centre if they vacate it. Besides, there is no scramble for ministerial office space in the Vidhana Soudha now as there is a cap on the ministerial size.

But the officials hope that the fear of Vaasthu will die down soon with the two ministers deciding to shift their offices to the new building. They argue that such Vaasthu problems have not arisen at Delhi which too has a South Block for government offices.

“The ministerial chambers in the Vikasa Soudha are not only spacious, but also have several modern facilities including Air conditioning. Now that two ministers are shifting to the new building, other ministers too would come to know about the advantages of the new building,” the DPAR sources argue hoping that the reluctance would end.

The 14 departments and the ministers who are supposed to shift to the new building are: Departments of PWD, Energy, Commerce & Industries, Water Resources, Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Animal Husbandry, Housing, Infrastructure Development, Food, Urban Development, Social Welfare, Labour and Co-operation.

Of these, all the departments barring Co-operation have shifted to the new building. The co-operation department is expected to shift soon.