New Delhi: Modi government’s ambitious project to redevelop seven government colonies in South Delhi to house its employees is likely to miss the December 2025 deadline. The construction of over 8,500 of the proposed 18,000 units has yet to begin owing to delay in obtaining environmental clearances and changes to the design plans, ThePrint has learnt.
In 2016, the Centre approved the redevelopment of seven General Pool Residential Accommodation (7GPRA) colonies located in South Delhi—Sarojini Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Sriniwaspuri, Mohammadpur and Thyagraj Nagar—to meet the housing requirement of central government employees.
For this, close to 13,000 single-storey flats were razed to construct high-rise apartments. Though construction work started in 2018, just 1,411 flats (703 in Thyagraj Nagar and 708 in Mohammadpur) have been completed till date.
While some flats are under construction at Sarojini Nagar, the construction of more than 45 percent of the 18,000 proposed flats, located in Sriniwaspuri, Netaji Nagar and Phase-2 Kasturba Nagar, has yet to begin.
Senior Central Public Works Department (CPWD) officials cited the delay in obtaining tree cutting/transplant permissions from Delhi government’s forest department and the recent change in the norms for construction of GPRA flats (notified earlier this year) as the main reasons for the 7GPRA project running behind schedule. The CPWD has increased the plinth area and changed other norms for construction for government housing.
“There have been several changes made to layout plans as per revised norms and to minimise number of trees affected by the project. But in some cases layouts are to be finalised. In all three projects, forest department’s permission is awaited,” said a source in the central government.
ThePrint reached the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), CPWD and NBCC for comment via email but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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Tree cutting permissions pending
The ministry, in response to a question in Lok Sabha in December 2022, said redevelopment of all seven government colonies is slated to be completed by 31 December, 2025.
For the past two-three years, the two government agencies overseeing the project—CPWD and NBCC India (a public sector enterprise)—have been waiting for permissions from the forest department to axe about 3,000 trees in three colonies (Sriniwaspuri, Netaji Nagar and Kasturba Nagar Phase-2).
CPWD officials said the delay in getting approval for tree cutting/transplantation will push the project deadline further. “Though no decision has been taken so far to revise the deadline, it is not possible to complete the entire project by December 2025,” said a senior CPWD official, who didn’t wish to be named.
Redesigning projects to minimise tree loss
It is learnt that the Delhi government’s forest department has asked CPWD and NBCC to rework the layouts of Sriniwaspuri, Netaji Nagar and Kasturba Nagar Phase-2 to bring down the number of trees that would be cut or transplanted for the project.
For the construction of Kasturba Nagar Phase-2, where nearly 1,200 dwelling units have been planned, the CPWD has reworked the plans to bring down the number of impacted trees to 856 from around 1,200 proposed earlier, sources in Delhi government said.
“Close to 1,200 trees, including some with girth of 200 metres, were getting impacted as per the initial plan. The CPWD was asked to change the plans to bring down the numbers, especially to protect the big trees. The numbers have come down to 856. They have been asked to explore other options if the number can be further reduced,” said a senior Delhi government official familiar with the process to obtain clearances.
In Sriniwaspuri, spread over 72 acres of prime land in South Delhi, over 4,900 dwelling units across 19- to 26-storey buildings have been planned. For this, nearly 1,450 old government houses were razed in 2019.
The CPWD awarded 590 flats for construction in 2022, followed by 1,221 a year later. But work on both the packages is yet to begin.
“There have been many changes in the layouts due to new norms for construction of government housing, which were formulated last year. We incorporated the new norms, as the plan anyway was being amended to get environment clearance. For the package with 1,221 flats, we received the tree transplant and cutting permission in March this year. We have completed the transplantation work,” said a CWPD official.
As for the package with 590 flats, permission to cut 500 trees was sought from the forest department. “After reworking the plan, the number of affected trees was reduced to 414,” said a second Delhi government official.
However, last week, the Delhi High Court stayed the permission the forest department granted earlier this month to fell 100 trees at Sriniwaspuri. It pulled up the forest department for granting permission in “contravention of orders” of the court in the past. It also directed the forest department to inform the court prior to issuing such permissions.
NBCC asked to rework 7GPRA plan due to deemed forest
Under the 7GPRA project, the NBCC also has plans to build 2,458 flats along with a commercial and government office complex in Netaji Nagar. It was among the first few colonies to be taken up for redevelopment. The foundation stone for the project was laid by then vice president of India Venkaiah Naidu in May 2018.
However, construction work has yet to start on account of environmental concerns. It is learnt that NBCC had to rework the entire plan as some portion of the project site is a deemed forest.
According to the Delhi government, an area above 2.5 acres having density of 100 trees per acre will be considered a deemed forest.
A Delhi government official said, “NBCC was asked to rework the layout due to the deemed forest issue. They submitted the reworked plans a month back. Close to 1,600-1,700 trees are likely to be affected. We are currently evaluating their proposal. There was also an issue related to availability of land for compensatory plantation, but it has been resolved.”
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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