Nawab Sultanjahan Begum constructed the Minto
Hall of Bhopal in the year 1909, keeping in mind the requirement of a
guesthouse near the Raj Bhawan (then called the Lal kothi). The main architect
was A. C. Rovan, the main contractors were Armstrong, R. A. Dhondi and Sayyed
Ali. A fund of rupees three lakhs was spent over a period of 24 years on this
construction. However soon the Minto hall was converted to an army cantonment,
which was followed by a period of the hall being used as a convention center.
Later a Hotel Lake View was established in the vicinity of Minto Hall during
the era of Nawab Hamidullah Khan. For some time offices of the Inspector
General of Police, Defense services and Civil services were also established in
Minto Hall.
Abida Sultan, the heir apparent, discovered and refined the new
game of roller skates hockey on the floors of Minto hall. In the year 1946
Minto Hall was converted to a college called the Hamidia College, which later
moved to its own building. After independence of India the Vidhan Sabha of
Madhya Pradesh was established at Minto Hall. The Vidhan Sabha has been since
moved to a new building in the year 1996. Since then Minto hall has been lying
mainly unused, occasionally being the venue of some exhibition.
During the year 2005, the central
government decided to establish a International Convention Centre hub in view
of attracting investment to Bhopal. Bhopal has many plus points which we must
leverage -natural beauty, nearness to a major historical site like Sanchi and a
hill-station like Pachmarhi. If 'heritage value' can be combined with a 'scenic
location', a Convention Centre becomes unbeatable. Minto Hall, the old Vidhan
Sabha building on the lakeshore, was chosen for the purpose. The Indian trade
promotion organization (ITPO) visited Bhopal for an on-the-spot
assessment of Minto Hall for this Convention Centre. Linked with this
Convention Centre, we also propose to develop exhibition pavilions, so that
major Trade Fairs can take place in Bhopal. A competition was organized for the
architecture by EPCO for Government of Madhya Pradesh. The Small Scale Industry
of Madhya Pradesh has been appointed the nodal agency for the
construction of this convention center. A Five star hotel is also to be
constructed, for which two sites has been proposed to Indian trade
promotion organization (ITPO) - one in the vicinity of the Minto
Hall and another at the Hotel Ashoka Lake View. The ITPO will visit
both the locations soon and a venue would be decided upon. A fund of one crore
and thirty-four lakhs has been released by the central government for this
project as the first installment of the project.