Congress & Left slam Dec 2022 timeline for new PM residence; remind of COVID-19 crisis

Condemning the deadline for the Central Vista project, Congress on Monday, tweeted that the PM's residence has a deadline prior to the Central govt's plan to vaccinate all 1.3 billion people. Similarly, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury called it 'grotesque' stating that the PM was 'squandering public money to feed his megalomaniac vanity'. He pointed out to the scarcity of oxygen, beds and vaccines currently across the nation due to COVID-19 second wave.

Congress & Left slam Central Vista EAC clearance

PM & VP residence to be completed by Dec 2022

Moving ahead with the ambitious Central Vista project, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on Monday stated that the Vice President’s and Prime Minister’s new residence are scheduled to be completed by May and December 2022, as per reports. This move comes after the project got clearance from the Ministry of Environment's expert appraisal committee (EAC) earlier this week. The Central Vista project has been estimated at Rs 13,450 crore comprised of 11 administrative buildings, Common Central Secretariat, new Parliament complex, PM & VP residence and the PG building.

As per CPWD's report to the EAC, the construction work on the parliament is set to be completed by November 2022, vice president's residence by May 2022 and PM's residence by December 2022. Tata Projects Limited was awarded the construction of the new Parliament complex on September 29, 2020, which was cleared by the Supreme Court in January 2021. The Centre aims to complete the entire project by 2024 and have a new Parliament building ready by August 2022 - in time for India's 75th Anniversary. On January 5, the SC gave its approval for the New Central Vista project under which the new Parliament building is to be built, in a 2:1 judgment.

The Central Vista is a heritage project, declared in the 1962 Master Plan of Delhi as an “important site to meet the aspirations of a rich culture”. Under it, the new Parliament Building Complex will be spread over 64,500 square metres. The building will be bigger than the current Parliament building so as to seat 888 MPs in the Lok Sabha chamber and 384 MPs in the Rajya Sabha chamber. Moreover, all parliamentarians are expected to get separate offices in the new complex. This project has been defended by the Centre calling it a necessity to house more Parliament members when the Lok Sabha expands after delimitation ends in 2025-26. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone on December 10.