‘No space’: Eviction threat looms over two prominent journalists’ clubs in heart of Delhi

The lease of both the clubs — Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia (FCC) — located in Lutyens’ Delhi, was last extended three months back.

File photo of Bungalow No. 5, Windsor Place | Twitter | @ryaindia

New Delhi: The threat of eviction looms over two of Delhi’s prominent journalists’ clubs – Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia (FCC) – located in Lutyens’ Delhi after their lease expired on 31 July.

Senior officials in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) told ThePrint that the Directorate of Estates (DoE), a department under the ministry that deals with allotment as well as renewal of lease of government bungalows in Delhi, has not renewed their lease.

“The lease of IWPC and FCC has not been renewed. There has been no directions as of now to allot any alternate space to the two clubs,” a senior official, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint.

Both the journalists’ clubs are located on prime real estate — home to the Capital’s power elite. While IWPC’s office is located at 5 Windsor Place on Ashoka Road, the FCC operates from Bungalow No AB-19 on Mathura Road.

The DoE had last renewed the lease of the two journalists’ clubs on 4 May for a short period, till the end of July. The department had sent notices to both asking them to find suitable accommodation and vacate the property on or before 31 July.

Ministry sources said that at a time when it was facing pressure to give accommodation to new ministers, MPs and senior officials because of limited living space, it was unlikely that the lease of these two prime bungalows would be renewed.

“There is a shortage of space to accommodate all those entitled to government bungalows in Lutyens’ Delhi,” the official conceded.

The IWPC, founded in 1994, is India’s first association of women journalists. It was started by 18 women journalists but today its membership has gone over 800.

“Our lease expired yesterday. We haven’t heard anything from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs so far. But we are hopeful that our lease will be renewed again,” Sobhana Jain, IWPC president told ThePrint.

Founded in 1958 by overseas journalists working in India, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia is a group of more than 500 journalists and photographers covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Afghanistan and Tibet.

Munish Gupta, pressident, FCC South Asia, told ThePrint that he or the club’s governing council would not like to comment on the issue.

A member of FCC, who did not want to be named, said members were hoping the government would renew its lease. “The clubs were given preferential allotment at subsidised rent. It’s not possible for either FCC or IWPC to run the club after renting a property in prime Delhi at market rate. It’s a special place where journalists come to network and work,” the FCC member said.

The Narendra Modi government has been strictly ensuring that those not entitled to official bungalows are shown the way out. Even former ministers of the NDA government have not been spared.

Since March, the DoE has either forcibly evicted former ministers or made them vacate bungalows that they occupied despite not being in a ministerial post.