‘Scrap Central Vista project’

NEW DELHI: After Congress, now 60 former bureaucrats have asked the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “scrap” the Central Vista redevelopment project, which is likely to cost around Rs 20,000 crore.

Calling it an “irresponsible” move at a time when enormous funds are required to strengthen the public health system, in a letter to the Prime Minister, the 60-odd bureaucrats said, “It seems like Nero fiddling while Rome burns.”

Raising questions over the project, they said, “In the postCOVID-19 scenario, when enormous funds are required for strengthening the public health system to provide sustenance to people and to rebuild the economy, taking up a proposal to redesign the entire Central Vista at a cost of at least Rs 20,000 crore, a figure likely to escalate significantly seems particularly irresponsible.”

Signatories to the letter include retired IAS, IPS and IFS officers. Former DDA vice-chairman VS Ailawadi and former Prasar Bharti CEO Jawahar Sircar are also among them.

The Central Vista redevelopment project envisages constructing a new Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and revamping of the nearly 3.5-km-long stretch from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to the India Gate.

Notably, earlier Congress president Sonia Gandhi had on April 7 wrote a letter to the Prime Minister suggesting the government to scrap Central Vista project of approximately Rs 20,000 crore.

Later after the project got green ministry's clearance despite the objections being raised by a Parliamentary Committee, Congress's senior leader Anand Sharma has said, “Urging the PM to shelve the wasteful Central Vista project and proposed mega Central secretariats at 17 state capitals. Spending over Rs 25,000 crore on grand buildings at a time of unprecedented national crisis will be a criminal waste of public money.”