The Delhi State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has granted the environmental clearance for the construction of the "Executive Enclave" as part of the Central Vista redevelopment plan, sources said on Tuesday.
The user agency, Central Public Works Department (CPWD), will transplant 487 trees during the construction of the Executive Enclave, which will house the new Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, the India House, and the National Security Council Secretariat.
The Delhi State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), which first took up the proposal for the grant of the environmental clearance on January 31, had raised concern over the CPWD's plan to remove an "excessively high proportion" of trees from the site.
The CPWD later revised the proposal, decreasing the number of trees to be transplanted from 630 to 487 and increasing the number of trees to be retained at the site from 154 to 320.
At a meeting held on April 9, the SEAC had decided to recommend the revised proposal to the SEIAA for the grant of the environmental clearance. The SEIAA, however, had referred the matter back to the SEAC on a "limited aspect to examine the implementation of the Tree Transplantation Policy, 2020 notified by the Delhi government so that all points of the policy are complied with in the project in view of the substantial tree transplantation involved".
The project was granted the environmental clearance at a recent meeting of the SEIAA, a source said, without divulging more details. According to the revised proposal for the Rs 1,381-crore project, the CPWD will maintain 1,022 trees at the site, so as to have a tree per 80 square meters of the plot area, in accordance with the guidelines of the Union environment ministry.
Five buildings with a built-up area of 90,000 square meters will be constructed at the site after demolishing the built-up area of 47,000 square meters. The redevelopment of the Central Vista, the country's power corridor, envisages a new Parliament building, a common central secretariat, revamping of the three-km Rajpath from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, a new office and residence of the prime minister, and a new vice-president enclave.
