CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has termed the BJP-led Centre’s plans to continue with the Central Vista project despite the rampaging pandemic as “grotesque”. Quoting reports that the Centre has granted the necessary environment clearances for the remaining buildings of the project, Yechury questioned its timing. “No money for oxygen and vaccines as our brothers and sisters die waiting for a hospital bed to be cremated in parking lots BUT Modi will squander public money to feed his megalomaniac vanity. Stop this Crime,” he tweeted.

The project’s construction work has been brought under the ambit of “essential services”. The Centre has set a deadline of December 2022 to build the residences of the prime minister, headquarters of the Special Protection Group for the PM’s security and an executive enclave for bureaucrats, according to an NDTV report. The deadline for the vice president’s residence is May next year. These new buildings are expected to cost Rs 13,450 crore.