Narendra Modi moves to PM’s official residence

New Delhi, 30 May, 2014

Five days after being sworn-in, Narendra Modi today morning moved to the Prime Minister’s official residence at the 5 Race Course Road with most of his belongings and performed puja there. Modi will use the bungalow number 7, Race Course Road – which has been the residence of his predecessors – as his office. Due to repair work at Race Course Road facility, Modi was till now staying at Gujarat Bhawan, the Delhi based guest house of the Gujarat government which is located at about 500 meter distance from Prime Minister’s official residence.

From ToI story: Modi has not asked for any changes to be made before he shifts, something that’s surprised officials who are used to incoming occupants of government homes seeking several modifications. The bungalow had just a coat of paint and some cleaning of the furniture and curtains before Modi moves there. 7 RCR is actually five bungalows -Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 -spread across 12 acres on Race Course Road, which has been blocked off for the PM’s house and offices for the past three decades. These bungalows were originally designed by Robert Tor Russell, who was part of British architect Edwin Lutyens’ team when he was designing New Delhi in the 1920s and 1930s. Russell also designed Teen Murti Bhavan, Connaught Place and the Eastern and Western courts on Janpath. After the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi at her 1 Safdarjung Road bungalow in 1984, 7 RCR was chosen as a more secure location for son and successor Rajiv Gandhi. Today, 1 RCR is a helipad, No. 3 is where Manmohan Singh stayed with his wife and No. 5 was the guest house, and possibly where Modi will choose to stay at 7 RCR, which lends its name to the entire complex, is where the PM has his home office. The last bungalow, 9 RCR, is occupied by the Special Protection Group that guards the PM. In the 1980s, when 7 RCR was being set up for the new PM, his office was restored and designed by noted interior designer and architectural restorer Sunita Kohli. In 2005, she also restored No. 5. Over the years, many changes had been made to the houses -ceilings were lowered, rooms were divided and some structures were altered. All this had to be redone when it became the PM’s residence.