Winter session next year will be in new Parliament building, say govt officials

NEW DELHI: Asserting that the winter session of Parliament in December next year will take place in the new Parliament building and the Republic Day parade next year will be held at the refashioned Central Vista avenue on the 75th anniversary of Independence, sources in the government on Friday said there was no “either-or” choice between the projects and the budget for Covid management.
Reacting to the opposition’s attacks against the government for going ahead with the two projects, sources said the parties, mainly Congress, were spreading false propaganda about Central Vista of which the under-construction projects were small parts, being developed at a cost of barely Rs 1,300 crore.“MLAs bungalows in Mumbai are being constructed for Rs 900 crore whereas the new Parliament building and the Central Vista avenue together will cost Rs 1,300 crore,” an official said.
Besides, tenders for the two projects were awarded in pre-Covid times, the official said. The remaining projects under Central Vista redevelopment will be taken up later as the entire project has to be completed over an extended period. Sources said over 400 workers were deployed at the two project sites where Covid-19 protocol is being complied with strictly. A senior functionary said the opposition was demanding to stop the Central Vista project, which in reality had not even started.
Congress’s criticism was premised on the party’s think-tank AICC Research Department, which had made hypothetical observations about the project, the official said.
He added that the actual cost of the project would be clear only after tenders were awarded but initial assessment was that the whole Central Vista, comprising 13 buildings including a centralised secretariat, bungalows for the prime minister and the vice president, would cost approximately Rs 17,000 crore.
The project, which is estimated to be completed by 2026, is being executed by the housing and urban affairs ministry. Several opposition parties recently wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi asking him to start free vaccination for all and stop the Central Vista project.
Urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri has defended the project. “Congress’s discourse on Central Vista is bizarre. Cost of Central Vista is about Rs 20,000 crore, over several years. GoI has allocated nearly twice that amount for vaccination. India’s healthcare budget for just this year was over Rs 3 lakh crore. We know our priorities,” he had tweeted.