Central Vista project: Executive Enclave which will house new PMO awaits nod from Delhi panel
The Delhi State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), which vets the proposals before they are sent to SEIAA, has now set up a sub-committee which will visit the site to examine the implementation of the city government's policy for tree transplantation and review the site plan "in order to retain trees", according to the minutes of the SEAC meeting held on Saturday.
FollowThe proposal for the construction of Executive Enclave that will house the new Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Secretariat is yet to be cleared by the Delhi State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), official documents revealed. A representative of the project's sponsor, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), said that the plan was filed for environmental clearance in December of last year.
According to the minutes of the SEAC meeting held on Saturday, the Delhi State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), which reviews the proposals before they are sent to SEIAA, has now established a subcommittee that will visit the site to examine the implementation of the city government's policy for tree transplantation and review the site plan "in order to retain trees".
According to the government's policy, which was announced in December 2020, the affected agencies must transplant at least 80% of the trees impacted by their development activities. After a year of tree transplanting, the benchmark tree survival rate is 80%.
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The SEAC expressed worry about the CPWD's intention to remove a "excessively large proportion" of trees from the site when it first looked at the proposal at a meeting on January 31. In a subsequent revision, the CPWD increased the number of trees to be preserved at the site from 154 to 320 while reducing the number of trees to be transplanted from 630 to 487.
The SEAC resolved to present the amended application to the SEIAA for the granting of environmental clearance during a meeting on April 9. The CPWD would maintain 1,022 trees at the site so that there is one tree every 80 square metres of plot space in accordance with the rules of the Union environment ministry, according to the updated plan for the Rs 1,381-crore project. After tearing down the existing built-up area of 47,000 square metres, five structures totaling 90,000 square metres will be built there.
A new parliament building, a shared central secretariat, renovation of the 3-km Rajpath from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, a new prime minister's office and house, and a new vice president enclave are all part of the Central Vista's makeover as the country's power corridor.
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(With PTI Inputs)
