No more than 9 storeys, nothing lavish: Backstory of buildings making way for new central secretariat

Krishi Bhawan is set to be demolished soon. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

8 min readNew DelhiJul 14, 2026 06:36 AM IST

First published on: Jul 14, 2026 at 05:55 AM IST

Nirman Bhawan was the first to go down in May, after which the hammer came down on Udyog Bhawan; Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan will be the next to be demolished. With that, the Capital’s unassuming Nehruvian-era buildings, which served as the nation’s back offices, housing several key Central ministries and thousands of staff, will make way for a new central secretariat, Kartavya Bhawan.

Government records documenting their construction, along with publications from the time, tell the story of how a newly Independent nation sought to catch up with the demands of an expanding governance machinery despite limited resources.