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The Expert Evaluation Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) recommended granting green authorization for the “expansion and renovation” of the existing Parliament building.
The new Parliament building is part of the government’s grandiose Central Vista project, which is to build a new complex on a plot adjacent to the existing structure at an estimated cost of Rs 922 crore.
The total area involved in construction and renovation is 21.25 acres, constructed area of 1.09,940 square meters and will require the transplant of 233 trees.
The contentious plan has been widely criticized by urban planners and civil society groups for spending hundreds of millions of rupees on renovating the heritage structure during an unprecedented economic slowdown triggered by the coronavirus disease pandemic (Covid -19).
They had also raised other concerns as well. They have questioned the reason behind dividing Central Vista, a unique development project, into parts, as questions have been raised as to whether this has been done to obtain environmental authorization.
The Central Department of Public Works (CPWD) had listed the Parliament building as an “individual project” in the EIA documents. It had also stated that there are no “interconnected projects,” which LokPATH (People for Appropriate Habitat Transformation), a collective of urban development experts who are reviewing decisions related to the Central Vista project, has in fact branded as incorrect.
The minutes of their EAC meetings, held between April 22 and 24 and posted on the ministry’s Parivesh website, stated that the Parliament building was cleared under certain conditions.
One of the conditions is the result of a special license petition (SLP) pending before the Supreme Court (SC).
The superior court is hearing two petitions filed by citizens against the way the public hearing was conducted to facilitate the project and challenge the legal validity of the land use change process.
In March, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had changed the land use of the 9.5-acre parcel from “recreational” to “Parliament”.
The EAC minutes address the concerns raised by LokPATH and other civil society groups by responding to each of the concerns raised by them.
For example, civil society groups had said that the Indian Parliament is structurally a part of the compound compound of the notified heritage, the Central Vista.
“The app completely ignores the historical, cultural and social importance of the existing Parliament by treating its” expansion and renovation “like any other regular construction project,” they argued.
In response, the EAC stated: “The proponents of the project are aware of the heritage value of the Parliament Building. Due to the need to protect its patrimonial value, in addition to other practical aspects, such as seating more members for the future and providing them with the necessary infrastructure, the project has been conceived. “
The other concern raised by citizens is that the implementation of the Parliament building is projected as a stand-alone project when it is part of the larger Central Vista project, which also ignores the cumulative impacts of the project.
The EAC has argued that integrated and interrelated projects, as mentioned in the ministry’s official memorandum, are those without which the functional outcome of the proposed project cannot be achieved and that is not the case for the Central Vista project units.
Experts said it was a “fait accompli” situation, where DDA changed land use and authorization was recommended even before the outcome of the SC case.
“All the concerns of the construction-by-construction approach to the impact evaluation of the Central Vista project remain. The cumulative impacts of the entire Central Vista redevelopment over a much larger area are different from those of a new Parliament building. What becomes even more questionable today is that the new Parliament building, which is estimated to cost Rs 922 crore, is approved when the country is facing a serious economic, humanitarian and environmental crisis due to Covid-19, “said Kanchi Kohli. , a research attorney at the Policy Research Center.
