The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has reported to have given in-principle approval to converting a bungalow occupied earlier by its former CEO Udit Prakash Rai, a 2007 batch IAS officer after he allegedly razed a historical monument, into an engineering training centre. “In-principle approval has been given to convert the bungalow into a human resource and engineering training centre,” a source said. In 2023 a major controversy erupted when Delhi Government’s vigilance department initiated an inquiry against the IAS officer and other officials for allegedly demolishing a 15th-century structure to build his official bungalow in Lajpat Nagar’s Kilokri on a land belonging to DJB.
The bungalow was built when Rai was the jal board’s CEO in 2021. As per the vigilance allegations, Rai was eligible for a type-V govt accommodation of 106 square metres, but he had built and occupied the bungalow with a built-up area of 700 sqm on a plot of 5,500 sqm. The house was constructed at a cost of `4 crore. The notice said that following a visit in Jan 2021, the archaeology department wrote to DJB, seeking possession of the monument and a ‘gateway’ for conservation. When the department returned to the site in Jan 2023, it found that the monument had vanished.
The monument, a “mahal” (palace) from the Pathan period and the only remnant of the Khizrabad city founded by Khizr Khan of the Sayyid dynasty, was located in the Jal Vihar area, near Lajpat Nagar, in southeast Delhi. In May 2023, the vigilance department issued show-cause notices to five officers for alleged “connivance” in Rai’s illegal construction of his official residence. Rai filed a series of complaints in June with Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, alleging that a “biased inquiry” was being conducted against him and that his family was being subjected to harassment.
After the controversy erupted DJB suspended two of its officials and Rai had to vacate the bungalow. It has been lying vacant since. Last year a proposal was moved by the water quality control wing of the DJB to reuse the property for research purposes, which has been given in-principle approval in the recent board meeting held, officials informed.