PIB Takes on UD Ministry; against shifting from Shastri Bhawan to National Media Centre

NEW DELHI: The Press Information Bureau is supposed to publicise the Centre’s good governance but has created news by locking horns with the Urban Development Ministry that wants it to move office. The fight has reached Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth’s office who held a meeting on November 11 to sort out the issue.

UD Ministry wants the PIB Unit to shift lock, stock and barrel from Shastri Bhawan to the swanky National Media Centre (NMC) on Raisina Road, which is ready to be occupied. The UD Ministry wrote to the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) last month, saying it was inundated with demands from newly-created departments for office space at Shastri Bhawan. It said NMC was spread over 29,420 sq ft of space – much more than the 24, 820 sqft of real estate PIB was occupying at Shastri Bhawan – and hence all of PIB should shift to NMC.

But PIB Director-General Frank Noronha demolished the argument at the meeting with the Cabinet Secretary on November 11, as per minutes of the meeting accessed now by ET. “The impression that there is lot of office space in NMC is not correct,” Noronha said at the meeting, daring that the UD Ministry “should verify” the actual area of NMC that is available for office space. He said NMC had only 9,490 sqft of office space and nearly 20,000 sqft was for media facilities, including conference halls, media lounge and cafeterias. Noronha told Seth that PIB had partially moved into NMC, vacating 10,000 sq ft of space at Shastri Bhawan.