Who is Bimal Patel, the architect behind Central Vista Project?
The inauguration of the redesigned Central Vista avenue by PM Modi was a triumphant moment for Bimal Patel, with even his harshest critics acknowledging his work. Leena Misra in Ahmedabad and Nirupama Subramanian in Delhi on the man steering most of Modi govt’s pet projects, past the divided political landscape, trying for consensus.
Thursday, Sep 15, 2022
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HomeIndiaBimal Patel: Architect of Modi govt's grand projects prepares for biggest challenge yet — Parliament House
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Bimal Patel: Architect of Modi govt’s grand projects prepares for biggest challenge yet — Parliament House
The inauguration of the redesigned Central Vista avenue by PM Modi was a triumphant moment for Bimal Patel, with even his harshest critics acknowledging his work. Leena Misra in Ahmedabad and Nirupama Subramanian in Delhi on the man steering most of Modi govt’s pet projects, past the divided political landscape, trying for consensus.
Written by Leena Misra
, Nirupama Subramanian
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Updated: September 11, 2022 2:13:21 pm
Bimal Patel. (Illustration: Suvajit Dey)It is mid-morning on an August day in 2021, and Bimal Patel is showing yet another small group of journalists and public intellectuals around the Central Vista Redevelopment Project. “You see these tiles?” he asks, pointing to the pavement where workers are fixing rectangular pink tiles. “Each of these has to be fixed exactly right so they form straight lines all the way from here to India Gate. Straight lines are really tough to get. But that’s the kind of workmanship I am trying to ensure,” says Patel.
More than a year later, the Central Vista Avenue is open, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8. Patel — designer, urban planner, architect — is more than satisfied at not only the straight lines, but that the result is now being praised or at least acknowledged even by his critics and opponents.
The evening before the inauguration, at HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd, the 61-year-old Patel’s Ahmedabad-based company, there is not a moment to pause. It is well past sundown but at least on three floors of the eight-floor building on the Sabarmati riverfront — one of Patel’s earliest urban renewal projects — teams are at work.
While some study images of the Central Vista on their computer screens, others are working on the next phases of the project — the new Parliament building and the Central Secretariat buildings in Delhi, that will come up on either side of the renamed Kartavya Path.
On display in one section are 3-D prints of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha with miniature human models. The near 7-feet wall wears a print of the master plan while on the floor are strewn samples of material to be used in the new Parliament building, for which the countdown clock is set to October 10, 2022 — pink carved Dholpur sandstone, a brass filigree motif, prototypes of other adornments.
Rating: 5