SC allows Centre to go ahead with foundation stone laying ceremony for Central Vista project
'No construction or demolition work till order' on opposing pleas
New Delhi, Dec 7: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Centre to go ahead with the proposed foundation stone laying ceremony for the Central Vista project after the government assured it that no construction or demolition work would be done till the apex court decides the pending pleas on the issue.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that there would be only foundation stone laying ceremony for the project and no construction would commence as of now.
The revamp project, which was announced in September last year, envisages a new triangular Parliament building, with a seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 MPs, and the target is to construct it by August 2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day.
The common Central Secretariat is likely to be built by 2024 as part of the project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone on December 10 for the new Parliament building and the construction is expected to be completed by 2022 at an estimated cost of Rs 971 crore, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had said on December 5.
The top court is seized of pleas which have raised questions over several aspects, including the environmental clearance granted to the project.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13; body of last missing person recovered
Jabalpur (PTI): The bodies of a five-year-old boy and his uncle were recovered from Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district on Sunday morning, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy to 13, police said.
The boat, around 20 years old and operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening.
"The bodies of Mayuram (5) and his uncle Kamraj (around 50), an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, were found floating and were fished out of the dam," Bargi Sub Divisional Officer of Police Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI over the phone.
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All 13 missing persons identified have now been accounted for, he said, adding the bodies were sent to a government hospital for postmortem.
Teams comprising around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, along with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, were involved in the search operation, the police said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the vessel, 28 were rescued after the incident, according to the police.
The CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat, though the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far, they said.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members. It also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
