The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided to waive off all the accrued income and penalties of the Air India building in Nariman Point, South Mumbai, to speed up the process of acquiring of the building.
Proximity of the building to the administrative headquarters of the state, the Mantralaya, and availability of 46,470 sq metres of space spread over 22 floors makes the acquisition lucrative for the state government. Many of the government departments which are being operated from elsewhere across South Mumbai and the state government plans to accommodate them in the building. This would save almost Rs 200 crore of the state exchequer every year on rents, a senior CMO official said, adding that the building will be available at around Rs 1,601 crore. Waiving off accrued income and penalties worth Rs 250 crore will expedite the process of acquisition of the building, the officer added.
Mantralaya's four departments operating from GT Hospital
After the 2012 fire at Mantralaya, four major departments -- public health, medical education, water supply and sanitation, and rural development -- have been operating from GT Hospital. These departments, along with others, may be shifted to the Air India building, the officer said.
The building is owned by Air India Assets Holding Limited, a company created by the union ministry of civil aviation in 2018 to manage all Air India-owned properties. Nine floors of the building are vacant at present, while three floors house GST offices and eight have income-tax department. The ground and first floors are currently with Air India, and the government has communicated to Air India Assets Holding Company that it should hand over the building free of encumbrances.
Building's historic past
The building was constructed in 1974 on land owned by the state government. It was built by John Burgee of the New York-based architectural firm Johnson/Burgee. Burgee was known for his contribution to post-modern architecture. The building was one of the targets of the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. A car bomb exploded in the building's basement garage, killing 20 people and destroying the offices of the Bank of Oman located above.
The building was put up for sale in 2018 as part of Air India's asset monetisation plans.
