Bhopal: Renovation of one of Bhopal city’s prime identity historic Minto Hall and work of convention centre will be launched on June 15, 2016. Maintaining originality of Minto Hall, a 500-seater ultramodern convention centre would be constructed there. Along with this, renovation of Minto Hall will also be undertaken at a cost of about Rs 32 crore. Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation would be nodal agency for this. Renovation of historic Minto Hall and work of convention centre would be launched by Vidhan Sabha Speaker Sitasaran Sharma and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at 7 pm.
Home and Jails Minister Babulal Gaur, district in-charge and Panchayats and Rural Development Minister Gopal Bhargava, Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Narottam Mishra, Higher and Technical Education Minister Umashankar Gupta, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Surendra Patwa, State Tourism Development Corporation’s Chairman Tapan Bhowmik, Bhopal MP Alok Sanjar, Mayor Alok Sharma, MLAs Vishwas Sarang, Surendranath Singh, Arif Aqeel, Rameshwar Sharma, Vishnu Khatri and others would be present on the occasion. Objective of the project is to restore Minto Hall to its original condition and develop it as international convention centre.
In view of special importance of preservation-augmentation of Minto Hall, the state government had constituted an apex committee headed by the then Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni for selection of architect. The committee also comprised former chief architect of EPCO and SPA Prof. Ajay Khare. After due consideration, the committee selected architects Messrs Urban System, New Delhi for this work. The architects had finalised various drawing and maps. First of all, work has been undertaken to remove additions made to building’s structure from time to time. Examination of wood, plaster and other materials used in construction of original building has been undertaken through Geo System Research and Consultants, Nagpur. Materials as per examination will be used in building’s upgradation. Target has been set to complete this work by December, 2017.