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Vista avenue project given heritage panel nod: Centre
In January, the committee, headed by the additional secretary of the ministry of housing and urban affairs, approved the first phase of the redevelopment, the construction of the new parliament building.
The Centre has received clearance from the Heritage Conversation Committee (HCC) for the second phase of the Central Vista redevelopment project that involves restructuring of the Central Vista Avenue in New Delhi, the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.
In January, the committee, headed by the additional secretary of the ministry of housing and urban affairs, approved the first phase of the redevelopment, the construction of the new parliament building.
“Prior approval of the Heritage Conservation Committee is taken for every project of the Central Vista redevelopment, wherever applicable, before construction work commences. Clearance of Heritage Conservation Committee has been obtained on 11.01 2021 for construction of new parliament building and for Central Vista Avenue Projects on 02.02.2021. For other projects, it will be obtained, wherever necessary,” Union housing minister Hardeep Puri said in written reply to a question from Congress MP KC Venugopal in the Rajya Sabha.
Puri added that the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) will be temporarily housed in the refurbished Janpath Hotel building and will finally be shifted to a new building to be built at the plot where Jamnagar House once stood.
The “heritage building” that houses the “National Archives” will be retained, the minister added, and the National Museum move to “retro-fitted North and South Blocks.”
In his question, Venugopal asked the housing minister “whether a detailed heritage audit was conducted prior to initiating the bidding process.”
The Supreme Court earlier this year, dismissed a clutch of petitions against the redevelopment project while holding that the government and its agencies fulfilled all legal requirements in altering the land use of the seven plots in the area, and in obtaining the environmental clearances for constructing the new Parliament building.
In a 2:1 majority verdict, the SC held that the government must seek a “formal written prior permission” of HCC before commencing development work on plot number 118 (where the new 60,000-sq ft Parliament building is expected to come up).
The committee includes officials from the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), NDMC, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Archeology Survey of India (ASI), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC), National Museum and experts from the Delhi University and the School of Planning and Architecture.
