This story is from September 14, 2019

Lutyens’ makeover to be over before 2024: Hardeep Singh Puri

The central government will reconstruct areas around Rajpath, known as Central Vista, which will include a new Parliament building, before the next election is held in 2024 and work on the ground may begin by next year, urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.
Lutyens’ makeover to be over before 2024: Hardeep Singh Puri
Hardeep Puri said it was the Prime Minister’s dream project of reconstructing those parts of Delhi that owed their original construction back to the years 1911 to 1927
NEW DELHI: The central government will reconstruct areas around Rajpath, known as Central Vista, which will include a new Parliament building, before the next election is held in 2024 and work on the ground may begin by next year, urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.
In the first official statement on the massive redevelopment project made public on Thursday and speaking at a FICCI event, Puri said, “It’s the Prime Minister’s dream project of reconstructing those parts of Delhi which owe their original construction back to the years 1911 to 1927; that’s when North Block, South Block, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House and the Central Vista came up.
We are going to reconstruct all of that. By the time we meet in 2024 before the election there will be a new Parliament building.”
The government, in its bid document for revamping the entire area, has indicated July 2022 as the timeline for either building a new Parliament or to complete the revamp of the existing one.
Asked about the site and design of the Parliament building, the minister said these aspects are currently “under consideration”.
Puri said some of the buildings in the project zone would be razed as they were built “in a hurry” after Independence to meet immediate requirement. He said some of the buildings don’t meet the current needs.
Sources said a major objective was to build iconic buildings and other structures in the capital’s power centre that have been lacking in the post Independence period. They added that at several high level meetings it was discussed how Mughals developed Sahajahanabad and built Red Fort while British built the buildings on Raisina Hills. But no such landmark development took place since 1947 with office buildings being added one after the other.

“So, a focus of the project will be to go for India’s own architecture and showcase it. We have invited bids from specialised firms and architects which will be selected to prepare the overall planning,” said an official.
Officials said the overall plan was approved by the Prime Minister before government invited the bids to select the planner-designer to prepare the master plan. They also said there is no suggestive list of which buildings may have to be pulled down and it will be up to the selected firm to come up with the best option for the entire area along Rajpath.
Puri said the proposed common Central Secretariat would have several buildings in one complex and these would be internally linked. Moreover, there would be facilities such as Metro station within the complex and other facilities to take care of the last mile connectivity.
The government has revived the mega secretariat plan after more than four years.
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