South Block, New Delhi, that houses the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as the offices of the Union Ministries of External Affairs and Defence. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday (February 13, 2026) inaugurate the new Prime Minister’s Office ‘Seva Teerth’, and the Central Secretariat buildings, Kartavya Bhavan 1 and 2. The PM will also preside over the last meeting of the Union Cabinet at the South Block.
An era will end when the iconic North and South Blocks are vacated.
The North and South Blocks initially housed the British government, and were taken over by the government of independent India in 1947. They were designed by Herbert Baker, a contemporary of Edwin Lutyens, the architect of ‘Lutyen’s Delhi’.
The South Block houses the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as the offices of the Union Ministries of External Affairs and Defence. The North Block houses the Ministries of Home Affairs, and Finance.
The Prime Minister’s Office will be moved on Friday (February 13, 2026) to the newly built ‘Seva Teerth’ complex.
‘Seva Teerth’ will also house the National Security Council Secretariat and the Cabinet Secretariat, all of which were previously situated across different locations.
Kartavya Bhavan 1 and 2 house several key Ministries, including the Ministries of Finance, Defence, Health and Family Welfare, Education, Corporate Affairs, Culture, Law and Justice, Information and Broadcasting, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Chemicals and Fertilizers, and Tribal Affairs.
Both building complexes feature digitally integrated offices, structured public interface zones, and centralised reception facilities. Designed in accordance with 4-Star GRIHA standards, the complexes incorporate renewable energy systems, water conservation measures, waste management solutions, and high-performance building envelopes.
“The inauguration marks a transformative milestone in India’s administrative governance architecture and reflects the Prime Minister’s commitment to building a modern, efficient, accessible and citizen-centric governance ecosystem,” an official statement said here.
“For decades, several key government offices and Ministries functioned from fragmented and ageing infrastructure spread across multiple locations in the Central Vista area. This dispersion led to operational inefficiencies, coordination challenges, escalating maintenance costs and sub-optimal working environments. The new building complexes address these issues by consolidating administrative functions within modern, future-ready facilities,” it said.
The new complexes also feature comprehensive safety and security frameworks, including smart access control systems, surveillance networks, and advanced emergency response infrastructure, ensuring a secure and accessible environment for officials and visitors.
Published – February 12, 2026 09:42 pm IST
