What is the Central Vista Project?
It is a grand project of the Narendra Modi government which aims to redevelop a 3.2 km stretch called the Central Vista that lies at the heart of Lutyens Delhi and was built by the British in the 1930s. Scheduled to be made and completed between 2020 and 2024, it aims to convert the North and South Blocks into public museums while creating an ensemble of new secretariat buildings to house all ministries.
What is the controversy around it?
At a time when the healthcare structure in the country has collapsed and the daily COVID death count has gone up to more than 4000, spending such an enormous amount of money in a venture that could have been delayed, if not indefinitely postponed, seems almost vulgar. In September 2019, when the government hastily floated tenders for the project, it was criticised as an exercise in vanity, a criticism that has become even more acute in the past year. The money being spent on the Central Vista Project would have been enough to build thousands of oxygen generation plants.
While the cost of 162 oxygen generation plants being built by the Central Government is Rs.201 crore, the budget for the new Parliament building itself is nearly five times more, at Rs.971 crore. Unmoved by the mounting criticism, the government has decided to go ahead with the project. However, barring two ongoing projects, the New Parliament Building and the Central Vista Avenue (Rajpath), the Centre may slow down the execution of remaining projects in the Central Vista Redevelopment Scheme, sources in the government said.
Instead of restructuring the Central Vista, here’s where the funds could have been allocated to...
a. Upgrading the medical infrastructure
b. Giving free vaccines to citizens
c. Supply of oxygen cylinders
d. Other COVID infrastructure
e. Employment generation, just to name a few.
An online poster issued by the founders of Lokpath said that the same amount of money could have been better used for setting up 15 new AIIMS and improving the medical facilities in the country.
An instance of gross breach of accountability and negligence towards its citizens, the Central Vista project has become a stain on India’s role as a welfare state and as pillar of democracy.
Environmental Impact of The Project
On December 21, 2020, the Delhi Development Authority, issued a notice proposing to change the use of 90 acres of land from ‘recreational open spaces’ to ‘government offices’. They are bringing down mature Jamun trees that are supposedly approaching their average age of 100 years. Uprooting these trees will lead to the destruction of the ecology of the Central Vista, a negative impact on many ecosystem services provided by these trees, as well as loss of habitat for birds and other urban wildlife. There would also be loss of public green space and shade for street people and vendors in the unrelenting Delhi summers.
How will it affect Delhi?
As reported by Bar and Bench, a plea was filed before the Delhi High Court seeking to halt the construction of the Central Vista project, since the construction work has the potential to become a super spreader of the coronavirus. However, the Delhi High Court refused to put a stay on the Central Vista Project and adjourned the matter to May 17, leaving Delhi and its citizens in a dangerous situation with respect to the coronavirus situation. The government is also putting the health and well-being of the construction workers in line, by continuing with the project in the midst of a raging pandemic.
It is a reflection of Narendra Modi’s extreme narcissism & megalomaniac tendencies
On a two-page spread on Thursday, The Daily Mail wrote: “The monstrous monument to Narendra Modi’s ego: As millions suffer in pandemic, India’s narcissistic Prime Minister is building a vast folly at a cost that could fund 40 major hospitals. Now his nation is in uproar.”
The article adds: “Ludicrously, having all too belatedly placed the rest of Delhi in lockdown, he has even decreed that erecting this monument to his colossal ego must be classed as an ‘essential service’.
“So, as Delhi’s 30 million desperate citizens beg for oxygen and hospital beds, and cremate their loved ones on makeshift funeral pyres in car parks, and as bodies lie in the potholed streets, some 2,000 workers continue to be bussed in each day to toil in a chaotic-looking crater bigger than 50 football stadiums.”
It further says, “Modi is being held personally responsible for causing India’s catastrophic coronavirus second wave by encouraging — and personally addressing — mass political rallies, permitting crowds at cricket matches, and giving his blessing to a Hindu festival which drew nine million people to the banks of the Ganges.
Rahul Gandhi has said that the project is a ‘criminal wastage’ at a time when the country is reeling under the effects of a pandemic.
Questioning the meaning of ‘development’
The ongoing Central Vista project has led many to question the definition of ‘development’ that the incumbent government caters to. It presents us with a glaring dichotomy between the government’s short-sighted effort to maintain the facade of ‘development’ rather than actually looking after the welfare of its citizens.
Erasing History...
The entire process of re-modelling this legacy of Indian democracy is an attempt at erasing history, as well as an instance of destruction of heritage. The renovation is being done with the singular ambition of inflating the bureaucratic hold of the government over its citizens and other democratic structures. It reflects an exercise in futility and financial wastage, thereby completely dismissing the health and general welfare of the people of our country.
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