The night curfew imposed by the Delhi government from Tuesday till April 30 will have no impact on the construction of the new Parliament building, with workers’ shifts being moved around to adhere to the 10 p.m. to 5 p.m. curfew timings, a spokesperson for the company carrying out the project said on Wednesday.
The project will be completed ahead of the November 2022 deadline, said Naresh Sharma, spokesperson for Tata Projects Ltd., which is constructing the new Parliament building adjacent to the existing Parliament.
Construction on the new building, which is part of the larger Central Vista redevelopment project of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, started in January and is going on in three shifts.
Starting from Tuesday night, the Delhi government ordered a curfew till April 30 due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the Capital.
“The project will not be affected by the night curfew as there are adequate arrangements on site, and we also had a vaccination camp on site for workers. Also, a bus is being arranged, subject to permissions, to help commute before curfew hours. Work shifts are also being modified to align with night curfew times,” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu.
On Tuesday night, however, some workers were left waiting for transport back to their residential camp at Sarai Kale Khan.
Some workers stranded
Activist Sunil Kumar Aledia of the Centre for Holistic Development, said a group of workers had been stranded outside Parliament site at 10 p.m. “I reached there at 11 p.m. and saw that police were asking the workers to go back inside or face ₹2,000 fine for violating curfew,” Mr. Aledia said.
In a tweet with photos of the workers outside the work site, Mr. Aledia said that while the workers were constructing the new Parliament on one hand, on the other, they were being threatened by the police.
Mr. Sharma, however, said the police had been helpful to the workers and offered to drop them off at the camp in PCR vehicles while they waited for the arranged transport.