Nero fiddled with Central Vista while…

The government’s notification on the controversial Central Vista project in New Delhi, issued a few days ago, was insensitive and badly timed, coming as it did when the entire nation is under lockdown and anxiety over the coronavirus pandemic. The notification sought to amend the land use of some plots in the area near the present parliament house and adjoining areas, and that gives legal clearance for the start of the work. The project aims to redesign and redevelop the area and build a new parliament house and a new Prime Minister’s residence and to change the nature and use of many buildings and premises there. Some others, like the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, will be demolished. It will create a new visage for the core area in the national capital from where the country is ruled. It is a pet project of the Narendra Modi government, and the Prime Minister has announced that the new parliament house will be ready by 2022.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 20,000 crore, and it is wrong and unethical to spend so much money on a fanciful project of dubious necessity. The country is hard-pressed to find resources to fight the coronavirus and the economic impact of the pandemic will be felt for a long time. The government is unable to find money to give relief to many people at a time of severe distress. It should not be diverting taxpayers’ money for a project like this. The fact that it has launched the project now certainly reflects its warped priorities. Emperors and rulers have built and rebuilt Delhi many times to suit their tastes and imagination and to project their power and glory to the world. But it is an insensitive and uncaring ruler who thinks of rebuilding the capital when pestilence is haunting the country.

Many historians, conservationists, urban planners, architects, and others have opposed the project on many grounds. The government’s plan has been marked by a lack of transparency, and by secrecy and haste. There was no proper public consultation on the plan that will change the face of the capital, and no debate in parliament on the proposal that concerns it. If the plan goes through, the people will be deprived of a lot of public space which is now theirs, and low buildings will be replaced by high-rise structures. No environmental impact report has been prepared. The Prime Minister can propose a plan and a vision for a capital or for any project, but it must have the approval of the country. If the project is to be done, it should be done democratically. But now is not the time to think about it. The government must get its priorities right.