Redesigning of plans will limit flats for govt staff: CPWD

New Delhi: With a change in its plans to execute the redevelopment of south Delhi colonies, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) said on Thursday that the number of proposed flats for central government employees was likely to come down.

Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had in June announced that no trees would be cut for the redevelopment of seven south Delhi colonies. He had also directed the CPWD and NBCC to rework the plan to avoid cutting of trees. 

Talking to reporters here on the occasion of 164th CPWD Annual Day, its Director General Prabhakar Singh said the number of proposed flats would come down due to the redesigning of plans. 

Singh said for instance, if 1,000 flats were proposed to be constructed in an initial plan, the numbers would come down to about 900 flats owing to the redesigning of the plan. 

The National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) is redeveloping Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, while the CPWD is managing the rest of the four colonies in Kasturba Nagar, Thyagraj Nagar, Srinivaspuri and Mohammadpur. 

The government had announced that it would be cutting over 14,000 trees for building over 25,000 flats for government employees in seven colonies of south Delhi. 

The proposal had attracted heavy criticism from green activists, politicians and citizens. 

During a meeting chaired by Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra in June, a decision had been taken to plant more than one million trees, ranging from 8-12 feet height, in different parts of Delhi, with NBCC planting 25,000 trees, CPWD 50,000, DDA 10 lakh and DMRC 20,000 trees.