Indhana Bhawan, the new building of KPTCL, will facilitate administrative work
Amid much anticipated fervor, Energy minister, V. Sunil Kumar inaugurated the Indhana Bhawan, a 16-storey government building under Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL). However, there is still ambiguity on when employees can shift to the new premises.
The construction work is complete but the building is yet to be furnished. One of the engineers of the department said it can take another six months for them to start operating from the new building.
The objective of the new building was to make the workspace of KPTCL more spacious and streamline the administrative process. Hridhya, an assistant executive engineer in the electrical department said earlier their department was scattered across the city but now the chief office and the circle offices would be in the same building. “Since it is built in the centre of the city, it will be in close proximity to everyone.”
“We can also generate additional revenue by renting out the previous building,” said Manjunath.
“Some of our office buildings were rented before and we used to pay hefty sums of rent. Now, that we have our own building, we will save a lot on the rent,” said Basavaprabhu, Superintendent Engineer of the civil department. Another employee of KPTCL said that the department will now be able to save Rs. Four to five crores every month on the rents of the offices. Manjunath, chief engineer, civil department said that in the previous offices the space was limited and so were the facilities.
Energy minister, V. Sunil Kumar inaugurated the Indhana Bhawan
The Energy Minister said the building was near Vidhan Soudha and would facilitate the administrative procedures. He also said the building was constructed in a short span of time and had all the facilities of a corporate office. In addition to this, he mentioned various other projects that were completed in the last five years.
The state is set to go to elections in the coming months.
The construction of the building started in 2018 under the then Energy Minister, D. K. Shivakumar and was stalled for two years because of COVID-19.
The superintendent engineer also said the building was one of its kind. “There is a puzzle parking system in the building which is similar to the one found in malls. It is rarely found in government buildings,” he added.
The building has 16 floors and is claimed to be the largest area-wise government complex in Bengaluru. Out of the 16 floors, four have been kept for KPTCL, another three would be rented out to Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM). The High Court of Karnataka would also get three floors in the building. One floor has been kept for the directorate of Electrical Inspectorate.
Professor Anusha, an architect and an urban designer said that today’s buildings need to be more environmental friendly. “The future is sustainability. The looks of the building don’t matter. KPTCL building should set an example for other buildings by operating on sustainable measures like solar panels,” she concluded. Currently the building does not have any solar panels.
