Introduction:
It is a grand development project of buildings that will be the future power corridor of India. It will have a new parliament building, a common central secretariat and a revamped three km long Rajpath from the RashtrapatiBhavan to the India Gate. It covers conversion of North and South Blocks to publicly accessible museums by creating a new Common Secretariat to house all the ministers. The project is to be completed by 2024. The project also includes building of a new parliament building near the existing one with increased seating capacity for future expansion.
Fig 1: The Central Vista Project
There are two main parts of the project. One is the construction of a new parliament building and another is the construction of a new secretariat complex which will bring all the central ministries in one place. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 970 crore. It is being constructed by Tata Project Ltd.
Need for the project:
The Project aims to redevelop Central Vista as a world-class public space, to restore its grandeur as an architectural icon and housing modern facilities for efficient functioning of the administration. According to higher officials it will be one such temple of AtmaNirbhar Bharat which will reflect the diversity of India. The new parliament building will be 17000 sq km bigger than the existing one. The building will be earthquake resistant. The building will span across 64000 sq km area.
The new parliament building will look like a triangular plot. For the maximum use of available plot, the shape of the new parliament house has been chosen as triangular. The house will include a LokSabha hall, a RajyaSabha Hall, a Lounge around a courtyard and a central space called the Constitution gallery. The LokSabha will have enough sitting capacity for joint sessions. The interior of the LokSabha hall will be themed on India’s national bird peacock and the color of the walls will be retained as traditional green colour. Similarly, the interior of the Rajyasabhawill be themed on India’s national flower lotus and red color will be retained. Modern technology such as touch interfaces on the desks will be used which will help to run a paperless digital parliament. Acoustics aspects will be considered for the interior of the building so that viewers can view live proceedings with much better sound experience.
Fig 2: Layout of the Project
The Constitution Hall will be located at the central space having a triangular shape and its arms leading to entrances. The central hall will have a large central dome. The walls of the central hall will have sculptures and portraits of parliamentarians and other images representing various aspects of India. The Constitution gallery will be located to the east of constitution hall. In this hall, the original constitution of India will be displayed.
The Central Secretariat:
The aim of the Central Secretariat project is to place all the offices of the union govt in the Central Vista area. The Central Secretariat building will include 10 identical buildings. It will also include the national archive and a conference hall. The shape of the secretariat buildings will be rectangular doughnut type. A large courtyard will also be present in the middle.
The outside of the buildings will be stone-clad to match the existing Lutyens buildings. The inside facing of the courtyard will be covered with grass and steel. The height of the buildings will be similar to the existing buildings but never taller than the India gate, whose height is 42 meter.
The central secretariat will be a mass transit oriented project which will have an underground transit system and it will connect all the buildings with nearby metro networks. It will be a large rectangular transit path around the central secretariat which will use a shuttle service to move people in and out of the secretariat building, eliminating the need of cars for a large number of people.
Facilities for PM and Vice-President:
The Prime Minister’s residence will be located directly opposite to the Vice-President’s house. It will be in front of the RashtrapatiBhawan. Both buildings will be similar to each other, for maintaining the symmetry of the area. The office of PM will be located to the east of PM’s house in the diamond shaped area along with a garden.
Development of Public Areas:
Apart from construction of new buildings, the Central Vista Project will also include development of areas on both sides of the Rajpath from The India Gate to North and South Block Buildings available for public use. The pathways will be rebuilt, new gardens and lawns will be added and public amenity facilities will be included. The Central Vista Project is proposed to be extended to the banks of Yamuna River where a Nava Bharat Udyan will be built to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence.
The most significant aspect of the Central Vista project is to build the new parliament building. It is needed to house the two houses of the Parliament. Since independence, we have quadrupled the population and that is why there is also a need to increase the number of LokSabha constituencies through delimitation.
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Vista_Redevelopment_Project
- https://www.opindia.com/2020/12/central-vista-why-india-needs-new-parliament-building-and-secretariate/
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