Green nod for Parliament plan on hold till court hears matter
NEW DELHI: The Centre’s application seeking environmental clearance for the construction of a new Parliament complex has been deferred by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), and the proposal is likely to be reconsidered after pending court cases related to the project are resolved, according to documents seen by HT and officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
An expert appraisal committee (EAC) on infrastructure under the MoEFCC held a meeting on February 25 to review a proposal by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs’ construction arm, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), seeking green clearance for the new Parliament building.
According to the minutes of the meeting, a copy of which HT has reviewed, EAC noted that the project would provide a “larger Parliament building for the nation for better functioning of the legislature” but also added that CPWD needed to meet a slew of conditions before the proposal can be reconsidered.
EAC sought revised details of the total built-up area proposed for the expansion, scope of renovation of the existing Parliament building, status of court cases, a traffic management plan, pointwise reply to the representations received and updated Master Plan of Delhi showing land-use of “plot no.118”.
“In view of the foregoing observations, the EAC recommended to defer the proposal. The proposal shall be reconsidered only after the above details are addressed and submitted,” the panel said.
Officials of the two ministries who did not want to be named said the proposal was deferred because the matter was sub judice. Cases concerning land use changes and other related issues pertaining to the Central Vista project will be taken up by the Supreme Court later this month.
In the meeting, officials from the ministry of housing and urban affairs said that an application has been made to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to change the land use of the 9.5-acre plot (for the Parliament complex) to “government use” as its current status in Master
Plan for Delhi 2021 is “District Park”.
“The proposal is to provide 5.64 acres in the Central Vista area of D zone and 3.9 acres in the C zone in lieu of the land use conversion from a district park (for recreational purposes) to Parliament (government land),” housing and urban affairs officials said in the meeting, according to the documents.
Concerns on the environmental clearance for the project have also been raised by LokPATH, a collective of about 300 architects, environmentalists and urban designers, in a letter to Union environment, forest and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar, HT reported on February 25.
The group sought a cumulative impact assessment and a public hearing for the Central Vista redevelopment plan.
CPWD has sought clearance for one component of the Central Vista project — the expansion and renovation of the existing Parliament building — from EAC on infrastructure.
EAC, at the February 25 meeting, noted that a large number of representations have been received in the ministry and also by the committee’s chairman/ member(s).