Not a single heritage building will be demolished in the redevelopment of Central Vista: Puri

"No green cover is being lost because of the Central Vista project. There will be a net gain of 563 trees after all plantations are completed."

In the redevelopment of Central Vista, not a single heritage building will be demolished, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas said on Thursday.

The Central Vista extends from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate in New Delhi and its foundation was laid on December 10, 2020.

Puri was addressing speculations that heritage buildings built by the British will be brought down around Central Vista.

“I had also received criticism for the removal of green cover at Kartavya path which is now absent. We will increase green cover at Kartavya path by three times. No green cover is being lost because of the Central Vista project. There will be a net gain of 563 trees after all plantations are completed,” Puri said at News18's Rising India Summit.

Kartavya path was earlier known as Rajpath. The Central Vista includes the North Block, the South Block and the Parliament building.

The minister said that India has been increasing its total investment in urban rejuvenation by many bounds.

While from 2004 –14, Rs 1.57 lakh crore was the total investment in urban rejuvenation, from 2014 – 22, it increased to more than Rs 16.44 lakh crore.

Comparing the pre-2014 and post-2014 governance, Puri said that total investment in housing has increased 22 times from Rs 38,302 crore in 2004-14 to Rs 8.31 lakh crore in 2014-22.

The metro connectivity in urban areas has undergone a drastic increase in the last 10 years.

“Before 2014, 229 km of metro network was operational in India while since 2014 up to Mar 2023, 845 km of metro network is currently operational. There is an increase of 616 km in mere 9 years while 908 km of metro network is still under construction,” he said.

The 82.5 km Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System is also under construction.