The big question today is whether the Modi government should proceed with the Central Vista project. Top Congress leaders from Sonia Gandhi down to former law minister Kapil Sibal and other intellectuals have in recent weeks castigated the Modi Government for investing on this ambitious project despite the second Covid challenge. The project would require an astronomical sum of Rs 20,000 crore for its completion. The works on Parliament House are progressing and would cost around Rs 1,000 crore.
What would be unveiled in four years are a new Parliament House, residences for Prime Minister and Vice President and some 10 blocks for government departments, all converging into a prime landmass along the elegant Raj Path. There are no two views on the need to construct a new parliament house as the impending constituency delimitation process would eventually require more space to accommodate the larger number of MPs. The present building does not lean itself to expansion because of its shape. The growth in population will need to be reflected in the new number of constituencies. The only issue is about timing.India is battling the second wave of the coronavirus and the number of infected and deaths have reached mind-blowing figures. So much so that dead bodies are discarded in rivers and buried in sand banks. This is the time when maximum allocation should be made into the health care sector. Unfortunately, the judiciary has refrained from intervening in this issue from petitioners seeking to halt the project.The Opposition has every right to “correct” the “wrongs” of a government. However, in these times of lockdowns and restrictions on social gatherings, open protests are not possible. Curiously, a set of over 100 retired civil service bureaucrats have also thrown their hat into the ring. They have sought to corner the government on several issues and called for a halt to the Central Vista project. They too cite similar reasons – that such a vast sum of money must be diverted to the health care sector.
While it’s important for governments to take full care of the health and medi-care sector in these daunting times, the iteration of lockdowns have seriously hampered the national and global economies. A whole generation is bound to bear the brunt of this pandemic in multiple ways. This is time for governments to spend; as the US did during the Great Depression. It made the economy recover and grow to new heights. John Maynard Keynes turned this into a much-celebrated economic theory. Rolling out more infrastructure projects will help reach more money to the markets and into the hands of the people.The Opposition is thus restrained in its criticism of the project. The Modi Government defends the project on the plea that most of the buildings require high maintenance and very high rentals. The Vista project they claim will accommodate all important government institutions above all.
