In India Covid Crisis, Anger Over Centre's Rs 20,000 Crore Delhi Makeover

The existing parliament, which cost 8.3 million rupees and has a circular perimeter and 144 columns, was conceived of about 100 years ago.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rebuilding part of New Delhi, but the mammoth undertaking is drawing fire because it's estimated to cost billions at a time when the nation is grappling with a devastating coronavirus outbreak and the economic fallouts of local shutdowns. The planned changes will cement PM Modi's legacy in one of the world's oldest cities by reconstructing central Delhi, which houses the legislature and other historical buildings. The project covers an area as large as 50 football fields. India will get a new parliament building. The present 94-year-old structure, built during British colonial rule, will become a museum. Open spaces are poised to be repurposed for government offices. While many details haven't been announced, media reports have said a new prime minister's residence is likely to be built. All of it is to be readied for 2024, when PM Modi faces Lok Sabha elections for a third term. The massive project - which the media have estimated could cost about 200 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) - has grown more controversial as India's coronavirus cases have exploded. On social media, some questioned the need for spending on new government structures at a time when the nation is dealing with severe fallouts from the pandemic. One cartoon doing the rounds on Twitter depicted Indians without jobs, food and ambulances alongside a picture of PM Modi announcing a new parliament. "The PM in his speeches since the pandemic broke, has repeatedly asked Indians to sacrifice - their time, job, lifestyle, their human and cultural tendencies to be gregarious," historian Ramchandra Guha said via text message. "Now the citizens must ask the PM to sacrifice something for the nation as well. His project to redesign central vista was always controversial. It is now absolutely untenable. He should drop it. He still can and should."