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Labourers at Central Vista project follow Covid protocols: Centre tells Delhi HC
The contractor has provided for health insurance of all the workers against Covid-19 and a separate facility for conducting the RT-PCR test, and has made arrangements for isolation area and medical aid at the site, the government told the court.
The Centre on Tuesday told the Delhi high court that the labourers engaged with the Central Vista Project reside at the construction site and they follow all the protocols and guidelines in place to check coronavirus infection.
“The workers are staying on the site and, therefore, the notification relied upon by the petitioner is fully complied with. The petitioner is fully aware about this fact and he has deliberately suppressed it in the petition. While the arrangements for the stay of the workers were being made at the site, permission was sought for transportation of materials and labourers from Sarai Kale Khan camp to the work site, including permission for the movement of supervisory staff and such permission was valid till April 30,” the Centre told the Delhi HC.
The Centre further said that a Covid-compliant facility was installed at the site of the project itself to accommodate the 250-odd workers who had expressed their willingness to stay put and continue their work. “The facility provides for strict implementation of Covid-19 protocol and also adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour, such as sanitisation, thermal screening, physical/social distancing and masking,” the Centre noted.
The contractor has provided for health insurance of all the workers against Covid-19 and a separate facility for conducting the RT-PCR test, and has made arrangements for isolation area and medical aid at the site, the government told the court.
The Centre stated that as per the Delhi Disaster Management Authority's (DDMA) order dated April 19, construction activities during curfew are permitted where labourers are residing on-site. In view of the same, it is unequivocally stated that the workers working on the project as of now, are residing at the work site, following social distancing norms as well as other Covid-19 protocols. It is false to suggest that any workers are brought from Sarai Kale Khan camp to the working site on a daily basis. The entire substratum of the case of the petitioner is erroneous and based on falsehood, it added.
The Centre further told the Delhi high court that the very fact that out of all these construction activities going on simultaneously for different projects by different agencies, the petitioner has chosen to be a “public spirited citizen” only with regard to one project that speaks volumes about his intentions and motive behind filing the present petition that too suppressing all these facts. The very fact that the petitioner is selective about his “public interest” itself disentitles him from being entrusted with the writ of this court and the petition deserves to be dismissed as motivated by some undisclosed interest under the garb of “public interest”, it added.
It may not be out of place to mention that the very fact that the petitioner not only suppressed material facts about the project in question but is selective about his ‘public interest’ requires to be viewed from one curious development which generally does not happen in bona fide public interest litigations. The petitioner rushed to the court in the midst of curfew selectively targeting one particular construction site, the Centre asserted.
The Centre stated that a bona fide litigant who comes with clean hands would not only suppress the facts but wait for a few more days awaiting hearing before the court particularly when he has already moved the court belatedly and selectively. This again speaks volumes about the potential motive behind such public interest litigations.
Talking about the scope of the project, the Centre said it is not what is colloquially referred to as “the Central Vista Project” (which includes Parliament, refurbishment of North Block, South Block, construction of new offices for central government -- common Central Secretariat, central conference facilities, etc.). The scope of work which is a subject matter of the present petition is limited to the redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue (i.e., both sides of the Rajpath) where Republic Day celebrations are held annually. This is a very important public space and most widely visited by the common public and tourists in Delhi. It may be noted that the scope of work is as follows--Providing public amenities like toilet blocks, paths, parking space, vendor zone, making four pedestrian underpasses below Janpath and C-Hexagon Road, improvement of canals, bridges, lawns, lights etc.
Earlier in the day, a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh allowed the early hearing petition filed by petitioners-- Anya Malhotra, who works as a translator and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker, seeking to stop the work in the raging coronavirus pandemic.
Malhotra and Hashmi had moved the apex court against the high court’s May 4 order adjourning their plea to May 17.
The high court had adjourned the matter saying it first wants to study the apex court’s January 5 judgment giving a go ahead to the Central Vista project.
In the appeal before the Supreme Court, the petitioners had contended that the project was not an essential activity and therefore, it can be put on hold for now during the pandemic.
“Labourers are being transported from Sarai Kale Khan and Karol Bagh area to Rajpath and Central Vista, where construction work is going on. This enhances chances of spread of Covid-19 infection among them,” Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra had told the apex court.
Luthra urged the court to issue notice on the plea but the court said it would hear the matter on Wednesday. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Centre told the court that he had filed a reply but the same was not on record. The matter has been adjourned for tomorrow.
