The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on February 27 proposed changing the land use of four plots - two meant for the construction of the new Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as a part of the Central Vista redevelopment project and two as compensation for the green space lost due to the change of the other two.
In its public notice inviting objections for a period of 30 days, the DDA proposed changing the land use of two plots of 9.5 acres each located between Motilal Nehru Marg and K. Kamraj Marg (plot 38) and between Dalhousie Road and Tu-Tu Road (plot 36) from recreational use (district park) to government office in the Masterplan for Delhi-2021. These plots have been proposed to be used for the new PMO as a part of the redevelopment of Central Vista by the Centre.
As a part of the project, a new Parliament building is being constructed, the Central Vista Avenue is being redeveloped and new secretariat buildings, Prime Minister’s residence and Vice-President’s residence have been proposed.
Also, in its February 27 notice, the DDA proposed changing the land use of a 12.8 acre plot located between Dalhousie Road and Tyagraj Road (plot 30B) and 6.54 acre in Chandrawal, near Civil Lines from government office and residential respectively to “recreational (district park)”.
Reacting to the development, architect and member of the citizens’ collective LokPATH Madhav Raman said on Tuesday: “It appears that, in the context of the Central vista redevelopment project, the DDA persists in playing fast and loose with the basic tenets of statutory master planning, which is its constitutional mandate.”
During the legal challenge to the change in land use for the Central Vista project last year, the government’s submission to the Supreme Court had shown plot 30B already as “recreational [district park] landuse”, he said.
“It is currently used to house government offices in temporary barrack structures. This proposed land use change sets a dangerous precedent because it means that if a plot of land is occupied long enough in violation of the statutory Masterplan land use, it can arbitrarily be regularised by putting false information about its current statutory land use in the public domain by the statutory authority itself,” Mr. Raman said.
A senior DDA official, however, said that the plots listed for change of land use had been listed as per records of the urban body.
“Plots 38 and 36 are recreational [district parks] ones and land use will be changed to government office while land use for 30B will be changed from government office to recreational (district park). The data provided has been authorised and is according to the requisite records maintained by the DDA,” the official said.
The official added that the plot in Chandrawal would be a part of compensatory land use changes.
