Central Vista: Inalienable for Nation Building

PM will reside just opposite VP in front of Rashtrapati Bhawan and to the south of South Block. Present hutments will be moved out from here. Facilities for SPG will be built next to the PM’s house.

By Subhash Yadav

Central Vista is being attacked from all opposition parties and a chunk of intelligentsia questioning wisdom behind government spending in the times of COVID. A vibrant democracy with more than 1.35 billion people requires a sizeable parliament and a quick secretariat for the central government.

The second wave of the novel coronavirus has struck the country hardest witnessing more than 4000 deaths on a daily basis for a long streak. The health system almost crumbled and a fresh attack on the government was raged by the opposition parties calling out the Central Vista project to be put on hold for the moment and divert resources towards fighting coronavirus instead. The project is expected to cost Rs 20,000 crores over the years. Experts believe that there is a need to discuss the merits and demerits of the popular project to generate better and informed public opinion. While some of them are not questioning the need for the project, all of them are asking why now. According to them, including to the Congress party, when the economy is facing hardship and the country is facing a pandemic, the money earmarked for the central vista project should be diverted to social welfare.

The project

The Central Vista is actually the redevelopment of the area known as Central Vista Avenue which lies between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate. There will be a new parliament building, and a new secretariat complex to bring all the central

government ministries in one place. Then there will also be development of the Rajghat and the area around it, which is available for the general public, including the development of public amenities. “There is no questioning to the fact that the original capital built by the British was sufficient for that time but it was not built for a country with 130 crore people,” says Amit Bhayana, architect.

Why a new parliament

The new parliament building is centre to the Central Vista. There are several reasons for needing a new building to house the two houses of the parliament. The most important one is, the impending expansion of the size of the parliament. “Due to increased population, which have almost quadrupled since independence, there is a need to increase the number of Lok Sabha constituencies that would reflect an ideal ratio between the population and elected representatives,” says Diwan Singh, noted political activist and commentator.

Constitutionally, the number of Lok Sabha members to remain constant and the number of MPs in states were to be changed every 10 years to reflect the change in population in the states. But when the central government adopted a policy of population control in 1970s, it posed a problem. If the number of seats was to be re-allocated to states according to population, states that failed to control population growth would be rewarded with more seats, while states that successful in population control program would be punished with lesser seats. This translated to a North-South conflict, as Southern states were more successful in controlling population. Due to this anomaly, the number of Lok Sabha constituencies was frozen in 1976 up to 2001. This was again pushed back by 25 years and the next delimitation will take place in 2026, which is fast approaching. It is believed that the freeze would no longer be there and a change in parliament composition will occur. “There is too much pressure on the MPs at the present. Lok Sabha constituencies should be increased so that each MP represents a manageable size of the population. It is speculated that the size of the Lok Sabha will be increased to about 800 from the current strength of 543.

Now just look at the present parliament building. There are only 552 seats in Lok Sabha, with no scope for adding any new seat. Similarly, the central hall of the parliament, used to hold joint sessions, actually does not have enough seats for the MPs of both houses. Such sessions are organised with temporary chairs placed on the aisles. This scenario brings indignity to the largest democracy of the world.

MPs don’t have a separate lounge to spend their time outside session hours. A lounge enhances discussions in an informal setting. Many state assemblies have sitting arrangements with two members per seat, with proper desks and tables. Even many schools and colleges in the country have abandoned benches and introduced single and twin sitting arrangements, but our Parliamentarians still seat on long benches with no desk at all.

The need for Central Secretariat

The central secretariat is second most vital organ of the project to house the offices of all ministries in one location. Today, a large number of ministry offices are located outside the central vista area, scattered across the city of Delhi. “A nonplanned and widespread government system causes lots of movement in the city contributing to traffic and wastage of precious time in interministerial works.

Another challenge is that several of such offices are located in rented places. An estimated Rs 1000 crore is paid every year for the rents in private buildings,” says Diwan Singh.

Facilities for VP and PM

At present, the Prime Minister is residing at a distant place from the secretariat. Under the Central Vista project, both PM and Vice President accommodations will be moved next to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. PM will reside just opposite VP in front of Rashtrapati Bhawan and to the south of South Block. Present hutments will be moved out from here. Facilities for SPG will be built next to the PM’s house.

PMO will be refurbished to provide enough space for the sizeable staff. To the east of PM’s house, in the diamond-shaped area, the PMO will be built, along with a garden. This plot is directly opposite to the diamondshaped plot with the new and old Parliament houses on the other side of Rajpath.

This plot also presently has army offices, training colleges etc which are not needed in Central Vista. At present, the PMO is located inside the

Amidst heated debate between the government and the opposition in the Central Vista, urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri has held that the project will prove to be “an important fulcrum of economic revival.” “In the current economic scenario, the project shall generate large number of direct and indirect employment which could be an important fulcrum for economic revival,” said Puri in a heated debate in the parliament. South Block.

Development of public areas

The public areas are given much needed impetus in the project. Both side of the Rajpath, from India Gate to North and South Blocks, which is available for public will be developed. Lawns and gardens will be improved, public amenity facilities will be added and pathways will be rebuilt. Greenery will be focused upon. “New trees will be planted, as many trees in the area has died, and others are so old that they will die in coming years. For this, a tree species survey is being done to ensure selection of proper species of trees for planting. Specific locations will be identified to located streetside vendors who cater to visitors and tourists,” says Mohini Singh, an environmental activist.

Contrary to allegations of change of land use, that public space is being used for constructing buildings, actually available public space will increase due to rationalisation of land use. At present several govt buildings have encroached upon public places, which will be freed up after the project is completed. n