The way is now clear for the Central Vista project that will see a new Parliament Building and administrative complex rising along the historic Rajpath in the national capital. The Supreme Court, giving its nod on Tuesday, has taken note of the objections that were raised mainly on grounds of environmental protection and advised the central government to take salient aspects into consideration.
The apex court considered all points including the points raised by the Centre, like the requirement for a new building for the Parliament complex. The old building is expansive but not big enough to accommodate more members when the constituency delimitation exercise is undertaken in the near future. The expense for the project is Rs 20,000 crore. This is time for the nation to take money out of the exchequer to strengthen the national infrastructure so that markets will rev up after the deadly hit they took due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the past year. Creation of job opportunities for the lower rungs of the population thus, is also a welcome step.
The Opposition has raised objections to the Central Vista project, saying this was not the time for the government to spend on such lavish exercises. Indian democracy is still not mature enough to have national consensus even on matters of urgency and special requirements. The urge to oppose any governmental step comes naturally to the Opposition politicians. The BJP too had been on several avoidable offensives against the UPA government till 2014 but now expects the Opposition to cooperate with the Modi government. Such tendencies stall progress. Nations like China have a deficit of freedom, which also guarantees faster progress. In this geographical area, both examples are evident.
Going to court and putting hurdles in the name of environmental protection is a major obsession with activist groups too. The problem, often, is that they are not being realistic but take up the fight mainly to win free publicity. Several vested interests have used such fora to play around and mess up with situations. This affects credibility of genuine advocacy groups too.
What came from the apex court is the last word. The project can be taken forward and completed as per schedule. Governments should have the resolve to take matters forward and this applies to other projects too. Several highway projects have been stalled for several years due to hyper-activism. It is also important for governments to attend to genuine grievances and seriously organise re-settlement/compensation plans so that resistance to infra projects can be neutralized.