The project envisages constructing a new Parliament House, a new residential complex that will house the Prime Minister and the Vice-President, as well as several new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate Ministry offices.
New Delhi: Three iconic buildings of the national capital, living proof of its history and culture are set to be demolished as part of the Centre’s Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista project that envisages a new Parliament building, and new residences for the Prime Minister and the Vice President. These buildings are – the National Museum, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and the National Archives Annexe
The National Museum houses thousands of rare idols, original sculptures, priceless coins, invaluable paintings and jewellery from different era of political and cultural history. These include the famous dancing girl of Harappa, Nataraja in Chola Bronze, relics of Buddha, Ganjifa cards, Tanjore paintings and wood carved doors. All these objects will be shifted to North or South Block.
While the main building of the National Archives will remain intact, the annexe building will be demolished and a new building will be constructed. The archival records kept here include 45 lakh files, 25,000 rare manuscripts, more than 1 lakh maps and 1.3 lakh Mughal documents. The transferring of documents is fraught with risk of loss or mishandling.
The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts has an extravagant collection of heritage pieces, manuscripts and an impressive library. All of this will be temporarily shifted to the Janpath hotel, which has been renovated for the purpose.
Apart from these, other buildings marked for demolition under the project are: Shastri Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, Vigyan Bhavan, Vice President’s Residence, Jawahar Bhavan, Nirman Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, Raksha Bhavan. The total area to be demolished is 4,58,820 square metres.
