The public hearing on objections raised to the Central Vista project ended; L-G & Centre to review responses

The public hearing on objections raised to the Central Vista project ended on Friday after two days at Vikas Sadan. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Thursday invited over 1,200 people who had put forth their objections and suggestions to the proposed Central Vista for a public hearing. On the last day of the hearing, a few people were present at the DDA office to “present oral evidence in person” on the changes of land usage of seven plots in the Central Vista project.

A senior DDA official said that after the hearing which took place before the board of inquiry for two days, all the respondents views will be put before the authority in a meeting chaired by the lieutenant governor of Delhi and then taken to the Centre for notification.

Indian Architect and Planner Neeraj Manchanda said that the project is of national significance and requires an incisive set of studies across different parameters in order to establish both need and feasibility.
Some of the immediate concerns of the people are the decrease in space available to the general public in the Central Vista area, besides a reduction in free access to this area.

An environmentalist, who had also forwarded his objections to the DDA said, “Apart from the massive felling of trees which will take place, the other concern is that institutions like the National Archives, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and others are meant for the public. Converting these into office spaces would mean that spaces meant for public will shrink.”

Stating that the MPD-2021 entails decongesting the Capital, Anil Sood who attended the public hearing said, “You cannot change the land use based only on photos and not a proper blueprint. The MPD-2021 talks of decongesting the city but the same DDA is changing the land use to multiply congestion.”

Ms. Kapoor added, “It took two years for the IGNCA to be designed. How can the plan for something like the Central Vista be finalised within three weeks? The government has every right to make changes but the revisualisation cannot be done by 3-4 people only.”

“Currently, no detailed studies have been done on the impact of such a project in terms of critical aspects such as traffic and transportation. I hope that these key issues will be looked at enough in order to eventually create a project that increases benefit and space for the general public,” an architect said.  

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