Why is Govt’s Ambitious Central Vista Project Facing Objections?

The project which involves creating a bigger parliament, revamping the North and South Blocks and demolishing the existing structures on the Rajpath boulevard has been given to Tata Projects Limited.

(Photo: The Quint)

Despite a lot of controversies around the Central Vista re-development project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be laying the foundation stone for the new Parliament building on 10 December.

The project which involves creating a bigger parliament, revamping the North and South Blocks and demolishing the existing structures on the Rajpath boulevard, has been given to Tata Projects Limited. This is estimated to cost around Rs 971 crore but experts say that it comes at an even bigger cost to the environment and the history of Delhi and India.

Although the Centre has been fast-tracking approvals sometimes with barely a day's notice aiming to complete the project by 2022, the Supreme Court earlier this week, expressed a strong displeasure over how the Centre is "aggressively" rushing through everything, even as a batch of petitions regarding the matter is pending hearing.

While it allowed the government to lay the foundation stone, it warned that no construction, demolition, or felling of trees can be carried out in the site, until the pleas are heard by the court.

What are the ramifications of the Central Vista Re-Development Project? Why is the government's ambitious project raising questions? And what do historians and conservationists have to say about it? Tune in!