The Center’s 20,000 crore Central Vista project amidst the pandemic has once again raised questions
The Central Vista project has been under the scanner for all the wrong reasons. The fact that the government was proceeding with such a high investment project when the entire country was reeling under the effects of the pandemic has invited a lot of wrath from across sections of the society. The project that will have a new parliament, along with residences for the Prime Minister and Vice President is progressing on a budget of 20,000 crores.
Now it has been reported that iconic buildings like the National Museum, The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts and National Archives Annexe are to be demolished for the Central Vista Project. This has sounded the alarm among many historians and eminent personalities as these buildings hold a lot of historical value. The Museum houses age old and invaluable documents, art pieces, jewellery, sculptures and paintings that would need to be moved and restored once the construction is over. The archives also holds 45 lakh files apart from over 25000 rare manuscripts , 1 lakh maps and 1.3 lakh Mughal documents. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts has a large library, ancient heritage pieces and manuscripts that would need to be handled with a lot of care. Total area to be demolished comes up to 4.58.820 sq m and includes other buildings like Krishi Bhavan, Shastri Bhavan, Vigyan Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, Raksha Bhavan among other buildings.
