‘Priorities’: Oppn’s Outrage Over Work in Central Vista Amid COVID

Work for Modi government’s pet project Central Vista continues in the national capital amid a raging pandemic. Image used for representation.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Even as the second wave of COVID-19 ravaged India, disrupting families and resulting in thousands of deaths on a daily basis, work continues for the revamp of Central Vista, a pet project of the Narendra Modi government, worth an estimate of 200 billion rupees.

At a time when citizens and hospitals in Delhi are gasping for oxygen, the project has once again triggered anger among a section of people who questioned the necessity of spending such a huge sum of money on a reconstruction project, especially when the country is dealing with the pandemic.

The project, which involves creating a bigger parliament, revamping the North and South Blocks, and demolishing the existing structures on the Rajpath boulevard, has been given to Tata Projects Limited. This is estimated to cost around Rs 971 crore but experts say that it comes at an even bigger cost to the environment and the history of Delhi and India.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to slam the government’s ‘priorities’ and pointed that there is a shortage of medical resources in the country.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury called for ‘scrapping’ the project and prioritising the procurement of oxygen and vaccines.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court cleared the redevelopment plan for Central Vista by 2:1 majority.