New Delhi: With the country breaking all dubious records and reporting 3980 deaths and registering more than four lakh new infections in the last 24 hours, there is a growing demand for immediately put breaks on the Central Vista Project in Delhi. The Supreme Court had also on Wednesday agreed to hear a petition seeking stay on the construction work of the Central Government’s Central Vista project amid the pandemic.
The dream project of the Government of India, the Central Vista Redevelopment Project in the heart of the Delhi entails an expenditure of about Rs 20 thousand crore which will consist of a New Parliament Building, the Prime Minister’s residence, and office of the Vice President of India.
As India fights one of its tough battles against the Corona virus, the Project work in the heart of Delhi is going swiftly with earth movers and drilling machines paving way for the construction. It is also alleged that the project will require chopping off of more than 4 thousand 100 year old trees as part of the project.
The construction of the project in an emergency manner has raised the eyeballs of many who are questioning the priorities before the government at this critical juncture – whether to build health infrastructure amidst the rise in the pandemic or a monument that can be built after the country recovers.
The debate is in full swing in social media. Many users have questioned the timing of the project and many have demanded for immediate stoppage of the project. For some netizens it’s a cruel joke. While the country is receiving foreign aid to cope up with the pandemic, the government is spending crores of tax payers money on a project that could wait. Some also have questioned the rationale behind the project saying, when the government is not able to vaccinate the people for free, why is it wasting the money on such construction project.