'Modi Mahals' can wait, says Opposition as govt panel gives NOC for new Parliament building amid coronavirus lockdown

A government-appointed committee giving its nod to go ahead with constructing a new Parliament building amid coronavirus pandemic has attracted criticism with Opposition leaders on Saturday questioning the move with one of them saying "Modi Mahals can and must wait".

The reactions came after the minutes of the April 23 meeting of the Central Vista Committee held through video conference came in the public domain.

According to the minutes, some of the members wanted the meeting to be postponed due to the COVID-19 restrictions but it was rejected saying, "keeping in view the importance of the project in nation's interest and time scale for its implementation", it was decided to hold the deliberations as scheduled.

Bimal Patel of Gujarat-based HCP Consultants, the architects of the project, made a presentation before the committee through video conference and the members who were present gave "no objection with suggestions that the features of the proposed Parliament building should be in sync with the existing Parliament building."

The new Parliament building will have a seating capacity of 900 to 1,200 MPs with computer screens on tables and offices for Union ministers and MPs and is expected to be built by August 2022.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "Why can't the Prime Minister shelve the Central Vista project for a few years? How can India afford this extravaganza in this time of crisis?
We have repeatedly asked the government to put it on hold. The many 'Modi Mahals' can and must wait! India and Indians first."

He also shot off a letter to Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, appealing him to "speak out and support a freeze" on the Central Vista Redevelopment Project.

Noting that the salaries and allowances of MPs were cut and MPLADs suspended for two years, he said the project continues "unmindful of the financial crisis staring at the government in its face and unmindful of all objections that have been raised against it".

He said, "it is an atrocious sense of priority to embark on a new Parliament building and on new government offices when crores and crores of our people have lost their livelihoods and the economy is in the doldrums."

Emphasising that the country is "grappling" with a pandemic, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said 14 crore people have lost jobs, crores are going hungry and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's priority should be to provide cash and food to the people. "But instead he is focused on new buildings in Central Vista. And this proposal was passed without any non-government member present (at the meeting)!" he tweeted.

The Central Vista project, estimated to cost around Rs 20,000 crore and expected to be finished between 2022 and 2024, include construction of a new triangular-shaped Parliament, new residences for the Vice President and Prime Minister and 10 new building blocks to accommodate government offices. The prime minister's residence and office are likely to be shifted near the South Block and the vice-president's new house will be in the vicinity of the North Block.

In March, the government had notified the change of land use of around 90-acre land in Lutyen's Delhi near Parliament House, Rashtrapati Bhavan, North Block and South Block to enable the redevelopment of the Central Vista.

The project had invited criticism from a number of architects, urban planners, historians and conservationists, who said tinkering with the historical buildings was unacceptable and it was a wasteful expenditure. Several have also questioned the lack of transparency around the project.

A section of MPs have also questioned the project with some saying the design of the new Parliament was not inspiring at a meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in March.