News Analysis India

Tag: Central Vista

  • SC dismisses plea against Delhi HC order rejecting PIL to halt Central Vista work

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court order which had rejected a PIL seeking to halt Central Vista construction work in view of the COVID pandemic.

    A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose said it is not inclined to interfere with the high court order as the PIL petitioners had selectively chosen Central Vista project and did not even do basic research about other public projects which were allowed during the lockdown in the national capital.

    It said the high court findings on the PIL that it was “motivated” and filed with “ill-intent” and “lack of bona fides” is a possible view.

    The top court also refused to interfere with the Rs 1 lakh cost imposed on the petitioners.

    The main Central Vista project envisages building a new Parliament House, a new residential complex to house offices and the prime minister and the vice president.

    It will also have new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate various ministries.

    During the hearing, the bench said, “if this was your conduct, then Rs 1 lakh cost was less”, adding that when an affidavit was filed before the high court that the project was fully compliant with COVID protocols, then why did you pursue the case.

    Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for petitioners — Anya Malhotra, a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary film maker — said that when the petition was filed they were non-compliant and later they have complied with the conditions.

    “They were non-compliant from April 19 to April 30”, he said.

    The bench said that being public spirited persons had they done research on how many projects were given permission to continue the construction activity and how they selected this Central project.

    “As a PIL petitioner, have you done any honest research as to how many other public projects were allowed and how did you pick up this project and say that it will be a super spreader of virus,” the bench said.

    Luthra said the petitioners were specific that they wanted order only with respect to stalling the construction activity which was not in compliance with the COVID protocol directions issued by Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

    On May 31, the Delhi High Court had described the Central Vista Avenue redevelopment, which entails construction activities on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from the India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, as a “vital and essential” project of national importance.

    It had dismissed the PIL against it saying it was “motivated” and filed with “ill-intent” and “lack of bona fides” and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioners, while observing that it was “not genuine public interest litigation”.

    The high court had said it disagreed with the petitioners’ claim that the project was not an essential activity and therefore, should be halted during the prevailing pandemic.

    “The present petition has been filed to stop with immediate effect the work of the redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue. This work is part and parcel of the Central Vista project and of vital public importance. The construction of Central Vista Avenue redevelopment project cannot be seen in isolation,” it said.

    “In fact, the whole Central Vista project is an essential project of national importance, where the sovereign functions of Parliament are also to be conducted. Public is vitally interested in this project,” it added.

    The high court further said that this is a motivated petition preferred by the petitioners and not a genuine public interest litigation and dismissed it with Rs 1 lakh to be deposited by the petitioners with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority within four weeks.

  • SC dismisses plea against Delhi HC order rejecting PIL seeking to halt Central Vista work

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court order which had rejected a PIL seeking to halt Central Vista construction work in view of the COVID pandemic.

    A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose said it is not inclined to interfere with the High Court order as the PIL petitioners had selectively chosen Central Vista Project and did not even do basic research about other public projects which were allowed during the lockdown in the national capital.

    It said that findings of the Delhi HC on the PIL that it was “motivated” and filed with “ill-intent” and “lack of bona fides” is possible a view.

    The top court also refused to interfere with the Rs 1 lakh cost imposed on the petitioners.

    The main Cental Vista project envisages building a new Parliament House, a new residential complex to house offices and the prime minister and the vice president.

    It will also have new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate various ministries.

  • Central Vista: CPWD extends deadline to submit bids for three new office buildings to July 14

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CPWD has extended till July 14 the last date to submit bids for the three new office buildings under the Common Central Secretariat being built as part of the government’s ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project.

    Earlier, the last date to submit bids was June 23.

    According to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), technical bids can be submitted till July 14 and they will be opened on the same day.

    It said the last date for submission of bids and opening of technical bids has been extended due to “administrative reason”.

    Last month, the CPWD had invited bids for three new office buildings under the Common Central Secretariat along Rajpath at a cost of Rs 3,269 crore and Rs 139 crore was set aside for five year’s maintenance.

    These new buildings will come on the plot where the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts is currently located.

    Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet was on Wednesday apprised of development in projects being executed under the Centra Vista redevelopment plan, sources said.

    The redevelopment of the Central Vista — the nation’s power corridor — envisages a new parliament building, a common central secretariat, revamping of the 3 km Rajpath from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, new office and residence of the prime minister, and a new vice president enclave .

  • Over 50 per cent workers engaged in construction of new parliament vaccinated: Centre

    Taking to Twitter, Mishra asserted the new building will be ready on schedule for parliament #39;s winter session in 2022 in the 75th year of India #39;s independence.

  • Central Vista: CPWD extends last date to submit bids for three new office buildings

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CPWD has extended by one week the deadline to submit bids for the three new office buildings under the Common Central Secretariat being built as part of the government’s ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project.

    According to Central Public Works Department’s (CPWD) official document, technical bids can be submitted till June 23 and they will be opened on the same day.

    Earlier, the last date to submit bids was June 16.

    Last month, the CPWD had invited bids for three new office buildings under the Common Central Secretariat along Rajpath at a cost of Rs 3,269 crore and Rs 139 crore was set aside for five year’s maintenance.

    These new buildings will come on the plot where the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts is currently located.

    In May, the CPWD, which is executing the Central Vista redevelopment project, had also invited bids to transplant 1,838 trees from the campus of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).

    The CPWD said the entire project of tree transplantation will be executed at an estimated cost of around Rs 1.86 crore.

    The redevelopment of the Central Vista — the nation’s power corridor — envisages a new parliament building, a common central secretariat, revamping of the 3 km Rajpath from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, new prime minister”s residence and prime minister”s office, and a new vice president enclave.

  • Central Vista area to get 1,753 new trees as transplant, revamp to raise green cover

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As many as 1,753 new trees will be transplanted and 2,000 tree saplings planted in the Central Vista area under the government’s ambitious redevelopment plan, which will increase the overall green cover there, official sources said Sunday.

    They also said that as per the proposed plan, 3,230 trees will be moved out of the Central Vista area and transplanted to the NTPC Eco Park in Badarpur after obtaining necessary clearance from the Ministry of Environment & Forest, and a permission from the Forest Department.

    After all the transplantation and plantation, they said, the Central Vista area will have a net gain of 563 trees.

    One of the sources said, “1,753 new trees will be transplanted within the project sites and 2,000 new tree saplings are to be planted within Central Vista area.” The proposed plan also includes compensatory plantation that will ensure a substantial increase in the overall green cover of the national capital, the sources said.

    “A total of 36,083 tree (saplings) will be planted in the city and overall green cover will increase substantially, including 32,330 trees to be planted in the NTPC Eco Park in Badarpur as compensatory plantation,” an official source said.

    The redevelopment project of the Central Vista — the power corridor of the country — envisages a new triangular Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and the revamping of the three-km-long Rajpath from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and new residences for the prime minister and the vice president.

    The government has been facing criticism from the opposition for executing the Central Vista Redevelopment Project amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Slamming the opposition, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had on Monday said a false narrative is being created over the Central Vista redevelopment plan and asserted that it is not a “vanity project”, but a necessity.

    Under the redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue which comprises Rajpath, leading from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, 48 trees are proposed to be transplanted and of them, permission has been granted for 25, including 22 Jamun trees, till date, sources said.

    However, no old tree planted as per Lutyen’s original plan, including Jamun trees, is proposed to be transplanted, they said. Transplantation of the trees approved is in progress, they said.

    On Sunday, the government sought to bust “myths” around the Central Vista project, saying that all laid down procedures have been followed.

    “The cost for the PM’s residential complex has been mischievously exaggerated in media. It is part of many projects, as mentioned earlier, whose neither the design has been approved nor the cost estimate or tendered cost has been firmed up,” they said.

    Detailed environment impact assessment has been carried out for all the 10 Buildings under the Common Central Secretariat, Common Conferencing facility, Prime Minister’s Residence, Prime Minister’s Office and Vice President Enclave.

    “The Expert Appraisal Committee which is an independent body of field experts has examined this and recommended for clearance on May 2 this year. Environmental Clearance has been granted by MoEF&CC on May 31.”Therefore, these statements that piecemeal approach has been taken to surmise adverse impact of this project is unfound and totally false,” they said.

    The Congress has been asking the BJP-led Union government to shelve its plans on the central vista redevelopment project and give priority to improving medical infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic to save people’s lives.

    The government said that all the paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, collections and other significant heritage and cultural artefacts that are presently housed at the National Museum, National Archives of India and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) are carefully preserved.

    According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, the entire project will be carried out in a heritage-sensitive manner.

    The existing documents and artefacts will be moved to upgraded facilities, with modern infrastructure, to ensure their longevity, it has said.

    The entire exercise will be spearheaded and monitored by the Ministry of Culture, ensuring compliance to the heritage conservation guidelines.

    All the relevant heritage-sensitive approvals and clearances will be obtained from Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) before initiating the project, it has said.

  • Delhi HC verdict dismissing plea to halt Central Vista work during COVID challenged in Supreme Court

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A plea was Wednesday filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s May 31 verdict which dismissed a petition seeking to suspend all construction activity of the Central Vista Avenue redevelopment during the COVID-19 pandemic while describing it as a “vital” and “essential” project of national importance.

    The project entails construction activities on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from the India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

    The main Cental Vista project envisages building a new Parliament House, a new residential complex to house offices and the prime minister and the vice president.

    It will also have new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate various ministries ‘offices.

    The high court had dismissed the plea saying it was “motivated” and filed with “ill-intent” and “lack of bona fides”.

    ALSO READ | Central Vista: Puri hits out at opposition, former bureaucrats, says false narrative being created

    The high court had also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioners who wanted the work to be halted in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, observing that it was “not a genuine public interest litigation”.

    Advocate Pradeep Kumar Yadav Wednesday filed the petition in the apex court challenging the high court verdict.

    Yadav, who was not a party to the proceedings before the high court in the matter, has claimed that high court was “not justified” in holding that the plea was motivated and not a genuine public cause “by drawing presumption and assumption in the absence of proved material facts and evidence”.

    It alleged that the high court failed to appreciate that allowing a big construction work with large number of labourers and workers to continue during the pandemic period is a “serious public health issue” concern.

    It said the high court was not justified in holding that the construction activities for the project is “essential activities, especially when the entire activities of service sector, industrial sector and the activities of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) are fully suspended during the peak pandemic lockdown period”.

    In its verdict, the high court had said, “The present petition has been filed to stop with immediate effect the work of the redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue.

    This work is part and parcel of Central Vista project and of vital public importance.

    The construction of Central Vista Avenue redevelopment project cannot be seen in isolation.

    “In fact, the whole Central Vista project is an essential project of national importance, where the sovereign functions of Parliament are also to be conducted. Public is vitally interested in this project,” it had said.

    The high court had said that legality of the project was already upheld by the Supreme Court and even the Delhi Disaster Management Authority allowed it to continue.

    It had also said that from the affidavits filed by the Centre and the contractor — Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Pvt Ltd (SPCPL) — it was “clearly evident” that several facilities, like accommodation, medical facilities and COVID care centre, have been provided to the workers at the site.

  • Central Vista: Puri hits out at opposition, former bureaucrats, says false narrative being created

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Slamming the opposition, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said a false narrative is being created over the Central Vista redevelopment plan and asserted that it is not a “vanity project”, but a necessity.

    Hitting out at 60 former bureaucrats over their open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the project, Puri said, “They are not educated fools, but they are a disgrace to the country.”

    Citing some parts of the letter during a press conference, Puri, whose ministry is executing the Central vista redevelopment project, said these former civil servants have alleged that the government is building a new parliament building because of “superstitious beliefs”.

    He said in 2012, the then Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar’s OSD had written to Union urban development secretary for a new Parliament building and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh had also advocated for a new building.

    He said in 2012, it had been said that there was need of a new Parliament building.

    But in 2021, these 60 former civil servants are saying the government is constructing a new building because of “superstitious beliefs”.

    “They (60 former civil servants) are not educated fools, and they are a disgrace to the country,” the minister said.

    “I will not put my signature on a letter which talks about superstitious beliefs…,” he said.

    Without naming anyone, Puri said on May 18, the letter had been written by 60 former bureaucrats, including a former cabinet secretary and a foreign secretary.

    “This is a motivated, ill-intentioned…criticism. They hide themselves behind social activists,” he said.

    Talking about the new prime minister’s residence, Puri said no design has been finalised for it and only two projects — the Parliament building and Central Vista Avenue — are currently being executed at a cost of around Rs 1,300 crore.

    Hitting out at the opposition, the Union minister said he has been noticing that a false narrative is being created over the central project, and added that no heritage building will be “touched”.

    “This is not a vanity project, and this is a project of necessity,” Puri told reporters.

    The minister attacked the Congress for alleging that a “Modi mahal (Modi palace) is being constructed under the Centre Vista Redevelopment project that will be executed at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore.

    “Where has this Rs 20,000 cost come from?. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not live in new PM residence forever…whoever is the be PM will live there,” he said.

    He said former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had lived in Teen Murti Bhavan which was later turned into a museum.

    “In 2014, this was the BJP-led NDA government which had first stopped converting former prime minister’s residences into museums…” he said.

    Describing the Central Vista Avenue redevelopment, which entails construction activities on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from the India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, as a “vital and essential” project of national importance, the Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the plea against it saying it was “motivated” and filed with “ill-intent” and “lack of bonafides”.

    While allowing the construction activity to continue, a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh imposed cost of Rs one lakh on the petitioners who wanted the work to be halted in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, observing that it was “not a genuine public interest litigation”.

    The redevelopment of the Central Vista, the nation’s power corridor, envisages a new Parliament building, a common central secretariat, revamping of the 3-km Rajpath from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, new prime minister’s residence and office, and a new Vice President Enclave.

  • Delhi HC to rule on Monday on plea to stop Central Vista work during Covid

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court will decide on Monday whether to allow the continuation of the Central Vista project work during the prevailing Covid pandemic.

    A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, which had been hearing a plea for suspending the ongoing construction work during the Covid pandemic, has fixed May 31 for delivery of its judgement on it, the high court’s cause list revealed on Saturday.

    The court had reserved its judgement on May 17 on the joint plea by Anya Malhotra, a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker.

    The two had contended in their plea that the project was not an essential activity and can be put on hold for time being.

    During the May 17 hearing, the Centre had termed the plea as a “facade” or a “disguise”, aimed at stalling the project.

    The petitioners on the other hand had contended they were only interested in the safety of workers at the site and citizens living in the area.

    ALSO READ | Stop Central Vista project, give free doses to all: Ex-bureaucrats to PM

    The petitioners’ counsel had likened the project to “Auschwitz”, a German concentration camp during World War II.

    Hard hitting arguments against the maintainability of the plea were made during the hearing.

    Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Pvt Ltd, which has been awarded the tender for the project, had also opposed the plea, saying it lacks bonafide and the company was taking care of its workforce.

    Terming the Central Vista project as “central fortress of death” and comparing it to “Auschwitz”, the petitioners’ counsel Sidharth Luthra had contended that the Centre’s claim on the availability of medical facilities, testing centre and other amenities on the site were all false.

    He had said only empty tents have been pitched at the site and there were no beds for workers to stay or sleep there.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, however, had taken strong exceptions to the project being dubbed as ‘Auschwitz’ and said “one can criticise and be venomous” about it but such terms should not be used in courtrooms.

    Countering the petitioners’ claims, the Centre’s law officer had said one of the petitioners had been opposed to the project long before it got the go-ahead from the Supreme Court in January this year.

    He said the petitioners were not concerned with the health and safety of workers at other construction sites in the city.

    “Public interest is very selective (in the instant case) about the health of workmen,” he had added and urged the court to dismiss the plea.

    ALSO READ | PIL against Central Vista a disguise to stall project: Centre to Delhi HC

    He had said the petitioners cannot decide what is the safe timeline for completing the project and the company has to finish it by November so that the Republic Day parade can be held on the Rajpath.

    The project entails construction activities on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawan, the petition, filed through advocates Gautam Khazanchi and Pradyuman Kaistha, had said.

    The project envisages building a new Parliament House, a new residential complex to house offices and the Prime Minister and the Vice-President.

    It will also have new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate various ministries’ offices.

  • MP Santosh Pandey’s letter to Chief Minister Baghel, targeted at questioning ‘Central Vista’

    BJP MP Santosh Pandey has written a letter to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, targeting the Central Vista project. He questioned whether Bharatmala Project, Narmada Valley Project, Delhi-Mumbai Corridor should also be closed.

    MP Santosh Pandey said in his letter that the new Shigufo of the government under your leadership has disappointed us. After all, even at such a time, so much politics? To cover the failures of governance, the way you labor everyday, if you tried to deal with the crisis, then the situation in the state could have been better. Your priority is only the fake Gandhi family. The Bhupesh model will no longer work in Chhattisgarh, Assam has also turned down.