PM to lay foundation stone for new Parliament building on Dec 10

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the new Parliament building in New Delhi on December 10.

Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said on Saturday that the PM will also perform ‘bhumi pujan’ or the groundbreaking ceremony the same day. The construction work is likely to be completed by October 2022.

The existing Parliament building will be conserved as it is an archaeological asset of the country, Birla said.

He said the new building will be earthquake resistant. About 2,000 people will be directly involved in the construction and 9,000 indirectly, he said.

Sufficient steps have been taken to control air and noise pollution during the construction work for the new parliament building, which will have separate offices for all MPs and those will be equipped with the latest digital interfaces as a step towards creating ”paperless offices”.

The new building will also have a grand Constitution Hall to showcase India”s democratic heritage, a lounge for members of Parliament, a library, multiple committee rooms, dining areas and ample parking space.

In the new building, the Lok Sabha chamber will have a seating capacity for 888 members, while Rajya Sabha will have 384 seats for the upper house members.

This has been done keeping in mind the future increase in the number of members for the two houses.

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At present, Lok Sabha has a sanctioned strength of 543 members and Rajya Sabha of 245.

In September this year, Tata Projects Limited won the bid to construct the new parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.90 crore. The new building will be constructed close to the existing one under the Central Vista redevelopment project.

The existing Parliament House building will be suitably retro-fitted to provide more functional spaces for parliamentary events, to ensure its usage along with the new building.

The existing building is a massive circular edifice of 560 feet in diameter. The Parliament House Estate is enclosed by an ornamental red sandstone wall or iron grills with iron gates that can be closed when occasions demand. The building has twelve gates.

Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said the invitation to the ground breaking ceremony will be extended to all political parties. While some would attend physically and others would attend virtually, Birla said, while adding that the ceremony would follow Covid-related guidelines.

(With inputs from agencies)