RTI reveals record ₹92 crore spent on upkeep of Union ministers’ Delhi residences
New Delhi: The upkeep of Delhi’s iconic Lutyens’ bungalows is becoming increasingly expensive, with the government spending a record ₹92.35 crore in 2025-26 on renovation, furnishing and repair work at the official residences of Union ministers.
The figure is more than three times the ₹27.47 crore spent in 2014-15, according to information obtained by PTI through an RTI query.
Between 2014-15 and 2025-26, the government spent a total of ₹547.68 crore on repair, renovation and maintenance of these residences through the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
Spending has surged in recent years
The ₹92.35 crore bill recorded in 2025-26 was the highest annual expenditure since 2014.
Government officials attributed the rising costs to factors including inflation and the wear and tear of the ageing structures, many of which are between 80 and 100 years old.
CPWD officials have previously pointed to recurring problems such as seepage, termite infestation, ageing electrical systems and plumbing issues.
"These are mostly 80-90-100-year-old bungalows. Some, though not all, had even become structurally unsafe and needed to be upgraded," an official said.
There have also been plans in the past to demolish and rebuild some of the bungalows, although no such proposal was officially announced.
Expenditure has more than tripled
The data shows a sharp increase in spending over the past decade.
Between 2014 and 2019, the government spent an average of ₹26.78 crore a year on repairs and upgrades. The average rose to nearly ₹50 crore annually between 2019 and 2024.
Spending then climbed to ₹71.98 crore in 2024-25, before reaching the record ₹92.35 crore in 2025-26.
The year-wise expenditure was:
2014-15: ₹27.47 crore
2015-16: ₹29.57 crore
2016-17: ₹30.10 crore
2017-18: ₹23.34 crore
2018-19: ₹23.42 crore
2019-20: ₹26.37 crore
2020-21: ₹53.87 crore
2021-22: ₹40.84 crore
2022-23: ₹73.86 crore
2023-24: ₹54.52 crore
2024-25: ₹71.98 crore
2025-26: ₹92.35 crore
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What makes these bungalows expensive to maintain?
The bungalows were developed as part of the construction of New Delhi as the imperial capital between 1912 and 1930. After Independence, many were adapted as official residences for senior government functionaries.
Their large compounds and ageing infrastructure add to maintenance challenges.
A staff member of a Cabinet minister, speaking anonymously, said common repair requests include electrical work involving fans and LED lights, plumbing repairs and the replacement of floor tiles.
At ₹92.35 crore in 2025-26, the expenditure works out to roughly ₹1.2 crore per minister, based on a Union council of ministers typically comprising around 70 to 72 Cabinet ministers and ministers of state. However, the actual spending varies considerably from one residence to another.
Not all ministerial properties included
The RTI response did not provide expenditure data for the residences of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs who are not ministers.
It also did not include spending on the offices of Union ministers and ministers of state during the period covered by the query.
The figures therefore represent spending specifically on the official residences of Union ministers covered by the CPWD data.
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Lutyens’ name and the history of the bungalow zone
Despite being popularly known as Lutyens’ Delhi, historian and author Swapna Liddle pointed out that Edwin Lutyens did not design all the colonial-era government bungalows in the area.
"Lutyens lent his name to the Lutyens Bungalow Zone but himself designed only the official bungalows located within the President's Estate, which surrounds the erstwhile Viceroy's House, now Rashtrapati Bhavan," Liddle said.
"Most of New Delhi's colonial-era government bungalows were designed by architects of the Public Works Department under the British administration," she added.
Liddle, author of Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi, said the bungalows followed a pattern also seen in residences built by the British in Civil Lines areas across Indian cities.
They typically featured a large compound, with separate ancillary buildings for staff alongside the main residence.
One such bungalow, currently occupied by Home Minister Amit Shah on Krishna Menon Marg, once housed Herbert Baker, the architect of the old Parliament building and the North and South Blocks.
An older comparison
The latest expenditure also highlights how maintenance costs have risen over time.
An RTI response from September 2009 showed that the government had spent ₹93.50 crore cumulatively between 2004 and 2009 on the maintenance and renovation of bungalows allotted to MPs and Union ministers.
In contrast, the government spent almost the same amount- ₹92.35 crore- in just one financial year, 2025-26, on the official residences of Union ministers.