HTLS 2021: New Parliament building by end of 2022, says Central Vista architect Bimal Patel

Bimal Patel, the master architect behind the ambitious central vista redevelopment project, said the area is being handed over to the public works department in time for the Republic Day parade in January and that the new Parliament building will be completed by the end of next year.

The 19th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit

"Yes, of course. The Republic Day parade will take place there, and the handover is being done in bits and pieces, and it will be done. So that is not the big issue,” Patel said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Tuesday. “By the end of 2022, before the next winter session (in 2022), the country will have a new Parliament building,” Patel said.

In a conversation with Hindustan Times’ Editor-in-Chief R Sukumar, Bimal Patel also stressed that he approached redevelopment of historically important locations “respectfully”.

“In one word, if you ask me, approach it respectfully. There is no question about it. It has to be a respectful approach. However, the fact that it is a historically important site and should be treated respectfully, I believe, should not paralyse us. We must do what is necessary to transform these places so that they function for us as well today.

That said, the next issue is to start identifying the problems with the way they are functioning today,” said Patel who is also associated with the Sabarmati Ashram project.

“So if one takes a simple approach like that, I think one comes up with solutions that make sense today; with a lot of respect for the history and the ethos of the place. I believe that is the right way to about it,” he said, adding that he understood the well-founded apprehensions that people have. “So much of change that we see around us is problematic, it takes away old memories”.

Patel also rebutted criticism around the Sabarmati Ashram project, underscoring that this was only a restoration project, not a redevelopment project. At the same time, he stressed that people talked about modernism as completely always opposed to Gandhian simplicity. He cited the Gandhi Memorial Museum, completed in 1963, as an example.

“Because Charles Correa's museum there... remember that he did not mimic Gandhi ashram. What he did was use perfectly modern materials like brick and concrete to build a modern building that had the ethos of Gandhi Ashram. This can be done. So my point is very simple. let's not oppose modernism to simplicity, authenticity, and austere architectural character,” he said.

Patel said he, like many others, admired the spartan, authentic qualities of the original Gandhi Ashram.

The Gandhi Ashram used to occupy about 40 acres of land.

“On it, there were 60 odd buildings that were spread out... the Gandhi Ashram we see today is only over 5 acres. Out of that, only three acres, five buildings have been preserved as they used to be and they are available for visitors to see... The idea of the project is to expand the Gandhi Ashram to cover all the original buildings and the original buildings, most of which exist today but are in a derelict state are to be restored and brought back to their original condition,” he said.

“This is a restoration project. This is Gandhi Ashram restoration, not Gandhi Ashram redevelopment”.