A makeover that is not in sync with 'New India'

Accommodation in the new secretariat complex will be five times the combined capacity of Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, and Udyog Bhawan, which are to be razed

Amid questions on the rationale and format, architectural concepts, and contours of the grandiose Central Vista redevelopment, the government  intends to go ahead with the project. There are murmurs within the government against the plan, and some have questioned the project.

The government maintains the new Master Plan would “represent the values and aspirations of a New India…and be rooted in the Indian culture and social milieu”. The proposed construction of 10 new eight-storey structures for a common secretariat for around 70,000 central government employees goes counter to the prime minister’s oft-repeated commitment to “minimum government” and “maximum governance”.

The proposed accommodation in the new common secretariat complex will be about five times the combined capacity of Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, and Udyog Bhawan, which are slated to be razed, in addition to other buildings around Rajpath. 
 

In the early years after independence, the entire Government of India was accommodated in South Block and North Block. Ever short of office accommodation, the civil service is now housed in an array of a few sprawling bhavans and about 30 other buildings across the city. There is a need to drastically trim ministries and the bloated bureaucracy, close down or amalgamate departments, shut scores of PSUs, transfer subjects and institutions to state governments and panchayati raj bodies.

The potential of Digital India must be realised simultaneously. As The Economist recently visualised, the office of the mid-21st century will be very different from today’s. The internet, personal computer, and handheld devices enable managers to instantly communicate across the system. Many workers desire to avoid stressful commutes, preferring to work from home or in a coffee shop, and opt for a flexible schedule. Hot-desking in offices, with unassigned desks, enables establishments to substantially cut the need for office space. In an era of remote collaboration, software and documents sit in the cloud, and several offices and activities could be dispersed, to help decongest New Delhi.

In place of the proposed mega administrative cluster, “a complete cultural vista” can be considered. The Central Vista ought to constitute a true discovery of India, the old imaginatively juxtaposed with the new, the traditional with the modern, encapsulating the country’s history, science, culture and arts.    

The capital city, bursting at the seams with some 22 million inhabitants, needs a concerted strategy to decongest. The central and state governments have ignored plans finalised over 30 years ago to shift a large number of offices, PSUs, and activities out of Delhi. In fact, the city has been steadily burdened not only with unauthorised colonies, periodically regularised, but also innumerable piecemeal structures without any comprehensive plan. The crème d’crème is the rewriting of history around the capital’s veritable sanctum sanctorum — the Edwin Lutyens-Herbert Baker-crafted symbols of colonial empire — to yield place to a “new India”.

The central part of this architectural landscape — Rashtrapati Bhavan, flanked by the North and South Blocks, and Parliament House, leading to the 3 km-long Central Vista to the India Gate — is slated to undergo massive transformation: Parliament House is to become a Museum of Democracy; North Block a museum showcasing “The Making of India”, and South Block a third museum called “India at 75”. A new Parliament building is envisaged within the existing complex, a triangular edifice sporting three spires, to house the 1,000-1,200 seat Lok Sabha, as well as the Rajya Sabha with up to 500 seats, besides offices for all members of Parliament, and a common lounge.

The work of planning, designing and executing the work has been assigned to Gujarat-based HCP Design, Planning & Management Pvt Ltd. Tough deadlines have been announced — work is to start in May, redevelopment to be completed by November 2021, the new Parliament by March 2022 (the 75th year of India’s independence), and the new Central Secretariat by March 2024. 

In incredibly quick time, Delhi Development Authority has approved the change in land use of six plots spread over 86 acres in the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone (LBZ), of a 24.7-acre plot housing establishments such as Vigyan Bhawan, another 7.7-acre plot on which the National Archives stands, and a 15-acre plot on Dara Shikoh Road for the prime minister’s new residence, to come up south of Raisina Hill, closer to South Block.  

Although the 4-sq km patch of land in central Delhi is integrally tied to the city’s aspirations to become a world heritage city in terms of the application submitted to Unesco in 2013, the coveted tag may not yield any abiding cultural value. Experts believe that plans for the project should be so designed that existing areas and structures are optimally utilised, suitably strengthened and renovated. 

Many believe the existing Parliament building is in good shape. If Parliament House is short of office space, another annexe can be built adjacent to it, rather than junk the original structure. The palace of Westminster, where Parliament convenes in Britain, dates back to the mid-1800s. Westminster Hall is even older, built in 1099, and is still in use.     

The writer is former chairman, Container Corporation of India