44 minutes agoAuthor: Poonam Kaushal
After 19 months of continuous work, Central Vista Avenue in front of India Gate is ready. This will be called the duty path. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate this new developed area on Thursday i.e. today. The program will start at 7 pm and will last for 90 minutes. For this, the surrounding roads will be closed from 6 am to 9 pm.
Work continued on Central Vista Avenue until the day before the inauguration. A supervisor told that the work has to be completed by Wednesday night, so laborers are engaged 24 hours. People will be able to roam here from September 9.
Delhi High Court will remain closed from 3 pm
The Delhi High Court as well as the Patiala House Court will remain closed from 3 pm on Thursday due to the inauguration of the Central Vista.
Minute to minute program of inauguration…
- 7 PM: Statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose unveiled
- 7:10 PM: PM will reach India Gate
- 7:25 PM: Dialogue with workers
- 7:30 PM: Duty Path Inauguration
- 8:02 PM : PM Modi’s speech
Due to the Prime Minister’s program, the command of security was taken over by the Special Protection Group (SPG). No outsider was allowed into the area before the inauguration.
Apart from the Central Force, private security guards are also monitoring. Taking photos here is also prohibited. Due to tight security, tourists kept trying to see India Gate by standing near the barricades.
A vendor selling food and drink said that three years have passed in very difficult times. Work was going on all over the area. Now it has become very beautiful. Hopefully more people will come here and we will do well.
Food stalls of the states will open on both sides of the road
Vista means captivating view. The area around the Rajpath from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate is surrounded by lush green trees, canals and parks. It was beautiful before, now it has become more attractive.
New shops have been built on both sides of India Gate, which will have food stalls of different states. Tourists will not be able to sit on the lawn and eat food brought from home like before. Apart from this, vendors will also be able to set up stalls in particular zones only. More than 1100 vehicles can be parked in the two new parking lots. More than 300 CCTV cameras have been installed for surveillance.
Project completed 10 months late
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had floated a tender worth Rs 502 crore in January 2021 for the Central Avenue re-development. The work went to Shapoorji Pallonji Company at a bid of Rs 487.08 crore.
The company started work here from 4 February 2021. According to the conditions, the work was to be done within 300 days i.e. by November, but it got delayed by 10 months.
All the construction work had come to a halt in the lockdown during Corona, even then the work of Central Vista continued. When the matter went to court, CPWD had argued that the project work is to be completed by November 2021, so it cannot be stopped. Republic Day parade is also to be held here. That too cannot be delayed.
New Parliament building ready, finishing work is pending
Under the Central Vista Re-Development Project, a new triangular shaped Parliament building is ready. Its finishing work is going on. Shastri Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan, Rail Bhawan, Vigyan Bhawan and Indira Gandhi National Museum adjacent to Rajpath will now be part of the memories. New buildings will take their place.
Project started in 2019, costing 20 thousand crores
Under the project, many buildings from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate are being re-developed and constructed. This includes the new Parliament House, which will have one building each for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Central Secretariat for the offices of the Ministry, the Prime Minister’s residence, the Vice President’s residence.
A new building of Parliament has been built in front of the present Parliament House. This four-storey building is on 13 acres. The Prime Minister’s residence will be in about 15 acres. The project was announced in September 2019. Prime Minister Modi had laid its foundation stone on 10 December 2020. The cost of the entire project is 20 thousand crores.
Central Vista means the area on both sides of the Rajpath
Central Vista is an area on both sides of the Rajpath. Under this comes Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament, North Block, South Block, Vice President’s residence. The National Museum, National Archives, Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts, Udyog Bhawan, Bikaner House, Hyderabad House, Nirman Bhawan and Jawahar Bhawan are also part of the Central Vista.
Bronze statue of Ashoka Pillar unveiled in July
On July 11, Prime Minister Modi had unveiled a bronze statue of the Ashoka Pillar on the roof of the new Parliament House. This statue is 6.5 meters high and weighs 9500 kg. To support it, a system weighing about 6500 kg of steel has also been made.
There was a petition in the Supreme Court for a stay on the project
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court to stop the Central Vista project. However, the court refused to do so. The petitioner said that the land use has been changed illegally under this project. Justice Bobde, who was hearing this, had said that there is no need to impose a stay.
Story of Central Vista 111 Years Old: The British made Delhi the capital, then the construction started, inaugurated in 1931
The Central Vista means an area of 3.2 km from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate. Its story is 111 years old. Then King George V shifted the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi when the protests in Bengal increased. Famous architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker got the responsibility of building the Central Vista in Delhi. It was inaugurated in 1931.
After independence, work on it started again. After this, the design of the re-development project was prepared in 2020. This design was shared by Dr. Bimal Patel in a seminar. How Central Vista Was Formed, Know Through Graphic In full news…