The sprawling bungalow located at 33 Shamnath Marg in Delhi’s Civil lines area, which has gained the reputation of being jinxed, is set to become Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s much sought after Delhi Dialogue Commission’s new headquarters. Shamnath Marg in Civil lines is no ordinary address. It used to be the official residence of Delhi’s Chief Ministers till a decade ago. A brainchild of Kejriwal, the Commission was set up by the Government to do in-depth thinking for launching key projects in the national Capital.
At present, the Commission is operating from a bungalow which was earlier occupied by former Minister Kiran Walia in Chanakyapuri. Now, the 33 Shamnath Marg bungalow is being readied for the Commission’s new headquarters. The bungalow gained the reputation of being jinxed after many politicians occupying it had to quit midway their respective posts.
The death of the bungalow’s last occupant —Delhi Industries Minister Deep Chand Bandhu — marked one more addition to a list of politicians who had met with tragedy while staying at this address.
The last bureaucrat to occupy the jinxed bungalow was 1979 batch IAS officer and then Principal Secretary (Power & Finance) Shakti Sinha, who later had to seek voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) as he felt slighted working under his batchmate and then Chief Secretary DM Spolia.
Sinha had earlier worked as the PS to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the NDA regime. Four politicians - former Industries Minister Deep Chand Bandhu, former Chief Ministers Chaudhury Brahm Prakash and Madan lal Khurana and former executive councillor Choudhury Mange Ram — who stayed at this bungalow couldn’t complete their tenures while Sinha had to seek his VRS. The jinx’s myth proved true as his name was not considered for the post of the Chief Secretary of Delhi and his colleague Spolia was appointed for the same. Sinha had moved to the bungalow in April 2013. Sinha had asked for this bungalow in 2012, almost 10 years after it was vacated by Bandhu’s family.
The bungalow, which once served as the address to the city’s high and mighty, including the Chief Ministers, had remained unoccupied for almost a decade after Bandhu’s death. Officials of the Delhi Government say that the politicians and bureaucrats have been refusing to stay there claiming its Vaastu was faulty.
Four politicians have stayed at 33 Shamnath Marg so far, but not a single occupant was able to complete his full term in office while staying there. In fact, Chaudhury Brahm Prakash had to quit office before completing his term after he moved into the bungalow in 1952.
BJP leader Madan lal Khurana, who was allotted this bungalow when he became the CM of Delhi in 1993, had to resign in 1996 due the hawala scam. Before Khurana, executive councillor Choudhury Mange Ram, who was allotted the Shamnath Marg bungalow as his official accommodation, too had to quit before completing his term on personal grounds. Even former CM Sahib Singh Verma had refused to move into this bungalow. With politicians refusing to stay in to this bungalow, the Government had finally converted it into an official guesthouse for holding Press conferences and Iftar parties.
The bungalow, with four bedrooms, a huge drawing-cum-dining room, seven quarters for domestic helps, two garages, one storeroom and a spacious guard room could have been a dream house, but for its jinx.