GUWAHATI: Itanagar’s infamous ‘ghost house’, where four Arunachal Pradesh’s chief ministers lived to see their careers haunted by failure, has been turned into a guest house. But a Vaastu expert has warned that tragedies will continue in it unless certain ‘faults in construction’ are corrected.
The CM’s official bungalow on a sprawling hilltop area at Niti Vihar in capital Itanagar, was turned into a ‘state guest house’ this month with priests, monks and clergies offering prayers and consecrating each room.
Locals started calling it a “ghost house” after two of its occupants died while two others were ousted from power. The latest victim was a chowkidar, who committed suicide in the house.
Guwahati-based Vaastu analyst Rajkumar Jhanjri, who visited the bungalow at the instance of former CM Nabam Tuki and advised modifications, says tragedies cannot be averted by converting it into a guest house.
“The building was not Vaastu-compliant. The boring for water was in the south-west direction, but according to Vaastu, it should be towards the north-east. There were faults in the building’s north-east portion and I suggested modifications, but the faults were only partially corrected,” Jhanjri said. “Unless the faults are corrected completely, tragedies will continue to strike its occupants.”
Arunachal minister Nabam Rebia, who was in the bungalow at the time of its conversion into a guest house, said the rituals were not to drive away evil spirits but ones conducted before entering a new home or launching a project. “I do not believe in superstitions and have always stood up against superstitious practices,” he said.
The`59.55-crore building was constructed in 2009-10 and made CM’s official residence. Former CM Dorjee Khandu, who was its first occupant, was killed in a chopper crash in 2011. After his death, Jarbom Gamlin, husband of chief secretary Shakuntala Gamlin, took over as CM in May 2011, but could last barely a few months until he was ousted. He died of illness in November 2014.
His successor, Nabam Tuki, faced dissidence leading to his ouster in February last year after Congress MLAs defected to People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA). PPA’s CM Kalikho Pul committed suicide eight months later after the Congress defectors went back to their former party. After Pul’s death, Pema Khandu, son of Dorjee Khandu, took over as CM but chose to stay at his private residence.