New York

Indian diplomats at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN are still displaced from their premises three weeks after evacuation orders were issued for them after structural damage was reported in a high-rise under-construction building.

The building of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, located just over a block away from the UN headquarters, houses the Mission offices as well as residences for Indian diplomats and officers posted to the Indian mission to the UN and their families.

On July 7, the entire building was evacuated, along with other high-rises and businesses in the area, after structural issues were reported in the erstwhile headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, a 37-story high-rise, “active construction” site between Second and Third Avenues on 42nd Street in Manhattan.

The Permanent Mission of India to the UN is located just across the street from the troubled high-rise. There are several UN missions, UN agency officers, prominent hotels and restaurants, residences and businesses in the area.

All Indian diplomats and their families followed necessary precautions in the wake of the evacuation orders and had vacated the premises. The officers and their families had to find temporary lodging in hotels across the city.

Within one day, evacuation orders for almost the entire area in the vicinity of the Pfizer building were lifted, and people moved back into their residences and office buildings. Streets in and around the impacted building too were opened for pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

However, the Indian mission, a school and a hotel in the area are still under evacuation orders and cannot be accessed.

Three weeks into the incident, there is still no clarity from the New York City Mayor’s office or the Department of Buildings as to when the premises of the Indian mission to the UN will reopen for the officers and their families to move back in.

The prolonged displacement has caused an immense amount of disruption and inconvenience to the Indian diplomats and their families.

The Indian diplomats continue to fulfil their work and duties amid these disruptions, including managing the visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to the UN on July 13 to launch India’s official campaign for the 2028-29 non-permanent UN Security Council seat.

That high-level visit also came amid the dislocation and as the Indian mission premises remained inaccessible for its diplomats.

Sources have told PTI that the difficulties faced by the Indian mission have been raised with the relevant authorities as diplomats in the Indian Permanent Mission continue to perform their work.

PTI reached out to officials at the New York City Mayor’s Office Department of Buildings about the status of the Indian mission building, disruption caused by the displacement now in its third week, and whether there is a timeline by which the building can be accessed again by officers and their families. There has been no response from the department.

The Permanent Mission of India in New York is premised in a 27-story red granite-clad building built in 1993. The building was designed by Indian architect Charles Correa and is located between 43rd and 44th Street just off Second Avenue.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had described the situation at the Pfizer building as “extremely serious” and had said that the building remained unstable.

NYC Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani has said in a video posted on X on July 18 that the agency had still not detected any movement in the impacted building for more than a week.

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While he gave an update on the measures being taken to secure the building, there has been no update from the Department or the Mayor’s office as to when the premises of the Indian mission to the UN can be accessed again.