Renovation Spending on Union Ministers' Lutyens Bungalows Reaches ₹92.35 Crore
Annual expenditure on the renovation, furnishing, and repair of the official residences of Union Ministers in Delhi's historic bungalow zone reached a record ₹92.35 crore in 2025-26. According to information obtained through a Right to Information (RTI) query, the annual maintenance bill has more than tripled compared to the ₹27.47 crore spent in 2014-15.
Between 2014-15 and 2025-26, the Central Government spent a cumulative ₹547.68 crore through the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which oversees maintenance, repair, and renovation works across these colonial-era properties. The bungalow zone was originally developed between 1912 and 1930 as part of the establishment of New Delhi.
Officials attributed the rising expenditure to general inflation alongside the structural wear and tear of century-old buildings. Over the years, CPWD officials have reported recurring maintenance challenges, including wall seepage, termite infestations, outdated electrical systems, and plumbing breakdowns. Some bungalows had become structurally unsafe and required major upgrades.
Historian Swapna Liddle, author of "Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi," noted that while Edwin Lutyens designed the official bungalows within the President's Estate surrounding Rashtrapati Bhavan, most colonial-era government bungalows across the capital were designed by architects from the British administration's Public Works Department.
Spending trends show that between 2014 and 2019, an average of ₹26.78 crore was spent annually on repairs and upgradation for ministerial bungalows. That annual average nearly doubled to roughly ₹50 crore between 2019 and 2024, before climbing to ₹71.98 crore in 2024-25 and reaching ₹92.35 crore in 2025-26.
With the Union Council of Ministers typically comprising 70 to 72 Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State, the 2025-26 expenditure averaged roughly ₹1.2 crore per minister, though actual spending varied across individual residences. CPWD did not furnish separate expenditure figures for residences allocated to MPs who are not ministers, or for ministerial office spaces.
