Heritage buildings in Central Vista will be used as National Museum

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has informed ETV Bharat that several heritage buildings under the ambitious central vista projects will be retrofitted and many of them will be retained as National Museum.

New Delhi: Several heritage buildings under the ambitious central vista projects will be retrofitted and many of them will be retained as National Museum, officials in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) told ETV Bharat in New Delhi on Thursday.

"As per the central vista development and redevelopment plan evolved so far, North and South Blocks, being heritage buildings will be retained and will be retrofitted and used for National Museum," officials said.

Heritage Building of National Archives will also be retained. The existing national museum will get shifted to retrofitted North and South Blocks.

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) will be temporarily housed in the refurbished Janpath Hotel building and will finally be shifted to a new building to be constructed at the Jamnagar House plot.

The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, however, is yet to take a final call on the fate of the existing Krishi Bhavan, Nirman Bhavan among others.

In the last two months, clearance from the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) has been obtained for the construction of the new Parliament building and central vista avenue projects.

The central vista project initiated by MoHUA aims to revamp 3 km long Rajapth between Rashtrapati Bhawan and India Gate by creating a new central secretariat to house all the central government officers.

Under this project, there will be a new Parliament building with increased seating capacity, central avenue and new residence and office of Vice President as well as Prime Minister.

The project with an estimated cost of Rs 20,000 crore is likely to be completed by 2024. The central public works department (CPWD) is executing the project.

As of now, according to officials, building like Vigyan Bhawan, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan (currently house External Affairs Ministry) are likely to be demolished.

"Several other existing buildings around India Gate will be demolished," officials said.

Significantly, with an estimated cost of Rs 971 crore, a new Parliament building will come up by 2022.

The new Rajya Sabha will have a capacity of 384 seats while the Lok Sabha will have a seating capacity of 888. There will be an additional capacity up to 1272 seats for hosting joint sessions.

It may be mentioned here that in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the government has not yet finalised the number of buildings that will be demolished or remodelled under this ambitious project.

As per the Heritage Conservation Committee, there are six heritage buildings that come under the proposed central vista project including India Gate, India Gate Canopy, North and South Block, Parliament House and Campus, central vista precincts, national stadium and campus.

Taking to ETV Bharat, Dr KK Pandey, Professor (urban management) and coordinator, centre for urban studies, Indian Institute of Public Administration said that the central government's central vista project could be a model of inspiration for all state governments.

"This central vista project could be a model of inspiration for other states like Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and others where there is the existence of heritage buildings," said Pandey.

He said that the project is a long-overdue project. "There was a necessity also for such a project. Significantly, heritage buildings that come under these ambitious projects will not be demolished, rather they will be retrofitted...the heritage conservation committee is looking into it," said Dr Pandey.

The offices of the central government are spread over different locations which led to difficulty in interdepartmental coordination.

The Government said that most of the existing buildings have outlived their structural lives of around 50 years and not earthquake safe.

"The central vista project will help the government in many ways. Most of the central government offices which are in rented accommodation and scattered, will get a particular place at a central point," added Dr Pandey.