India, Sept. 27 -- In grey and beige stones, the buildings were meant to be functional, with long corridors and rows of narrow windows. For nearly seven decades, laws were drafted, budgets planned and ministries run out of these offices.

That's coming to an end.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has asked for Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan in New Delhi to be vacated by September 30. In their place will rise two secretariat towers clad in deep red and beige sandstone.

That sandstone is already visible nearby. Three new secretariat buildings, Kartavya Bhawans 1, 2 and 3, have been built and are occupied elsewhere on the Central Vista. In keeping with the theme of red and beige sandstone, all of them have been kept deliberately...