New Delhi: Former civil servants who have served the Central and state governments in various capacities, have lashed out at the Narendra Modi government’s Central Vista redevelopment project, and questioned the rationale behind its “pursuit of pomp and grandeur” at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods.
Describing themselves as being part of ‘Constitutional Conduct Group’, as many as 69 former bureaucrats in their open letter to the prime minister have said that the manner in which the project is being carried out amounts to complete disregard for the rule of law and “executive highhandedness”.
“Whether it was in inviting design options, selecting consultants, holding fair and transparent stakeholder consultations, obtaining approvals of the institutions and authorities dealing with urban design, planning and environmental clearances – everything was done to ensure that rules and procedures were given short shrift, due processes treated with contempt and a predetermined plan of action bulldozed through,” reads the letter.
The letter questions as to how the prime minister could go ahead and lay the foundation stone for the new project while the matter is still sub judice. It reminded the prime minister that the Supreme Court on December 7 took up the matter suo motu demanding an undertaking from the government that no action would be taken before it gave its final orders.
The former civil servants have also wondered as to how the prime minister could lay the foundation stone for the new parliament building given that the prime minister is only the head of the executive, and not that of the legislature. This, the letter has observed that, amounted to “constitutional impropriety” on the part of the prime minister.
Additionally, it has pointedly asked the prime minister the number of trees being cut to make way for the new project, and the environmental disaster it entailed. It notes that the tearing hurry on the part of the government to execute the project is reflected by the different figures it has given to various government agencies on the number of trees cut for the purpose.
The former government servants have lamented that the government has chosen to pump vast sums of money for a project driven by “monumental ambition” to take precedence over improving public health infrastructure that has been severely strained and has been proven inadequate to respond to the shocks posed by the pandemic.
In the case the government still intends to go ahead with the project, the former civil servants have asked the government to subject the project to critical scrutiny by citizens and independent experts. They have asked for the plans to be redrawn to make them compatible with environmental and heritage conservation standards, and the due processes of law relating to such projects must be followed.
Below are the signatories:
1. | V.S. Ailawadi
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IAS (Retd.) | Former Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority |
2. | S.P. Ambrose | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI |
3. | Anand Arni | R&AW (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
4. | Vappala Balachandran | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
5. | Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Coal, GoI |
6. | Sharad Behar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
7. | Madhu Bhaduri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Portugal |
8. | Meeran C Borwankar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI |
9. | Ravi Budhiraja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI |
10. | Sundar Burra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
11. | R. Chandramohan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
12. | Surjit K. Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand |
13. | Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI |
14. | P.R. Dasgupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI |
15. | Nitin Desai | IES (Retd.) | Former Secretary and Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI |
16. | Keshav Desiraju | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI |
17. | M.G. Devasahayam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana |
18. | A.S. Dulat | IPS (Retd.) | Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI |
19. | Prabhu Ghate | IAS (Retd.) | Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI |
20. | Gourisankar Ghosh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI |
21. | Suresh K. Goel | IFS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI |
22. | S.K. Guha | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI |
23. | H.S. Gujral | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab |
24. | Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI |
25. | Ravi Vira Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India |
26. | Kamal Jaswal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI |
27. | Rahul Khullar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India |
28. | Ajai Kumar | IFoS(Retd.) | Former Director, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI |
29. | Sudhir Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal |
30. | Subodh Lal | IPoS (Resigned) | Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI |
31. | Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
32. | Amitabh Mathur | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director, Aviation Research Centre and Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
33. | Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan |
34. | Sonalini Mirchandani | IFS (Resigned) | GoI |
35. | Avinash Mohananey | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim |
36. | Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal |
37. | Shiv Shankar Mukherjee | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom |
38. | Surendra Nath | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
39. | P. Joy Oommen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh |
40. | Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
41. | R.M. Premkumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
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42. | V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission |
43. | C. Babu Rajeev | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, GoI |
44. | M.Y. Rao | IAS (Retd.) | |
45. | Satwant Reddy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI |
46. | Vijaya Latha Reddy | IFS (Retd.) | Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI |
47. | Julio Ribeiro | IPS (Retd.) | Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania |
48. | Aruna Roy | IAS (Resigned) | |
49. | Manabendra N. Roy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
50. | Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
51. | G. Sankaran | IC&CES (Retd.) | Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal |
52. | S. Satyabhama | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI |
53. | N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI |
54. | A. Selvaraj | IRS (Retd.) | Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI |
55. | Ardhendu Sen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
56. | Abhijit Sengupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI |
57. | Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan |
58. | Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFoS (Retd.) | Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat |
59. | Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia |
60. | Navrekha Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Indonesia |
61. | Sujatha Singh | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary, GoI |
62. | Tirlochan Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI
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63. | Jawhar Sircar | IAS (Retd.)
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Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI, & former CEO, Prasar Bharati |
64. | Parveen Talha | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission |
65. | Thanksy Thekkekera | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Minorities Development, Govt. of Maharashtra |
66. | Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata |
67. | Hindal Tyabji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir |
68. | Jawed Usmani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & former Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh |
69. | Ramani Venkatesan
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IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra |