Heritage body asks for more clarity on Centre’s plan to revamp central vista
NEW DELHI: The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Delhi chapter, on Wednesday raised a few concerns regarding the central government’s plan to revamp the central vista.
“We are not objecting to the plan. The bid document clearly states that they will follow guidelines for the redevelopment of the central vista. However, how they will do it, and what these guidelines are, need to be clearly spelt out,” said AGK Menon, chief consultant of INTACH.
The organisation released on social media a statement by Menon, listing three issues that the revamp plan needs to address.
First, in connection with the guidelines that the bid document promises to follow, he wrote, “In the past, developments have taken place in the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone (LBZ) -- but less in the Central Vista Area (CVC) area — based on the discretionary powers of the government. This reveals that there are no objectively defined parameters in place to guide future development”
The second issue Menon raised is related to the ‘haste’ with which the government intended to carry out the plan. “The bid document states that the government wants to build a legacy for the next 150 years, but the timeline proposed to complete the project does not support this objective,” wrote Menon.
Lastly, the statement noted the financial terms set to identify potential bidders.
“It rules out the best architects and planners in India on two counts; first, it invites ‘bids’ to participate in the selection of the consultant, a procedure that the Council of Architecture, the statutory body legislated to manage the profession of architecture, expressly prohibits, and second, the amount of the Earnest Money Deposit demanded, from applicants, ₹50 lakh, is far in excess of the financial capacity of even the most of the successful Indian professional practices,” noted Menon.
He suggested that the financial terms would make it appear that the bid “appears to be an open call to foreign players or large multinational Indian entities.”
In response to the issues raised, a senior official with the housing and urban affairs ministry said, “Currently, we have invited ideas for the redevelopment of the central vista and area around it. We had a pre-bid meeting with various firms’ architects. Nothing has been finalised as of now.”
Earlier this month, the central government floated a request for proposal, inviting Indian and international architectural firms to provide consultancy for the “development/redevelopment of the Parliament building, common central secretariat and the central vista”.
Senior government officials elaborated on the plan to revamp or build a new Parliament house by 2022 and raze down a few buildings to build an integrated secretariat for all central government employees.