The Prime Minister’s residence is expected to shift from 7 Lok Kalyan Marg to South Block, closer to the Prime Minister’s Office and it will come up on 15 acre under the proposed revamp plan of Central Vista in New Delhi.
Similarly, the proposed building of new Parliament is to be a triangular design on 9.5 acre, close to the existing Parliament building. The Vice-President’s house and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) at Man Singh Road is likely to be shifted.
The architecture firm HCP Design, which bagged the bid to finalise detailed project report, made a detailed presentation before the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on Wednesday.
In its presentation, it stated the PM’s new residence has been proposed on 15 acre on Dara Shikoh Marg (formerly known as Dalhousie Road) near South Block. Sources said the use of this land has been changed. This would also help in easing traffic in the area as VIP movements cause inconvenience to people.
Similarly, the proposed building of new Parliament will come up on 9.5 acre. The building would be inside the present Parliament complex.
The new Lok Sabha will provide seating space for 900-1200 members. According to the plan, the seating area of MPs in the proposed building will also be more than the existing place. The existing Parliament building will remain the same, and offices of Ministers and MPs will be in a new building. The Government will construct 10 eight-storey buildings on Rajpath to accommodate offices of various Ministries, which would be built after demolishing a few major buildings. Sources said plan to shift the IGNCA, however, is yet to be finalised by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
The sources said all cultural institutions will be relocated near Jamnagar House, adding that the Government has also planned to set up a state-of-the art National Centre for Performing Arts there.
Under the plan, the proposed buildings will not be taller than 42-metre-high India Gate to maintain uniformity of structures. The Vice-President’s residence is set to move next to Rashtrapati Bhavan from the existing location, Maulana Azad Road. Vigyan Bhavan is to be demolished and will make way for a modern conference hall. However, no heritage buildings will be demolished. The common Central Secretariat will comprise eight buildings, four on each side of Central Vista. Each building will have eight floors, which will house various Ministries. Under the project, several subways will be constructed to ensure movement of pedestrians around common Central Secretariat, which will also be connected through Yellow and Violet line of the Delhi Metro.
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and its secretary Durga Shankar Mishra were also present during presentation.
The plan involves restructuring the Central Vista in a move that will include a common Secretariat, a new Parliament complex, and a redesigned Rajpath, while also razing a dozen Government offices. The plan, which is being handled by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, involves having a new Parliament by India’s 75th Independence Day in 2022, and the entire project is slated to be finished by 2024.
The plan, estimated to cost about Rs 12,000 crore, includes razing buildings such as Shastri Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan that house important Government Ministries to build a common Secretariat for roughly 70,000 Central Government employees who are located in 30 buildings. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has recently changed the land use of over 100 acre in Luytens’ Delhi for this purpose.
