The Maharashtra government in a state cabinet meeting on Wednesday decided to buy the iconic 23-storey Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai for its office space. The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also decided to waive off around 250 crores of unrealised income and interest on the property which was one of the targets of the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai.
The building, 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 currently vacant while three floors house GST offices, eight floors house the income tax department and the ground and first floors are currently with Air India.
The state government, which owns the land on which the building stands, plans to use it for its office space as after the 2012 fire incident at the state secretariat building, four major departments including public health, medical education, water supply and sanitation and rural development have been operating from GT Hospital. These departments are likely to be shifted to the building, reported news agency PTI.
ALSO READ: Maharashtra Police Busts RTI Extortion Racket In Thane, Three Including Two Journalists Arrested
The sea-facing Air India tower, built by John Burgee of the New York-based architectural firm Johnson/Burgee in 1974, is one of Mumbai’s famous landmarks.
The building was among the sites attacked in 1993 serial bomb blasts in the metropolitan, which claimed 20 lives and destroyed the Bank of Oman offices in the vicinity. In 2018, the tower was put on the market as part of Air India’s efforts to monetise its assets. It covers an area of 4.99 lakh square feet.
(With PTI Inputs)
About Post Author
