Central Vista: Construction work of new parliament building likely to begin on January 15

PTI, Jan 13, 2021, 7:47 PM IST

The construction of new Parliament building will start on January 15 as it is considered auspicious for work to commence on the day of first dawn after ‘Makar Sankranti’, sources said on Wednesday. Earlier this week, a 14-member heritage panel gave its approval for construction of the new Parliament building under the government’s ambitious Central Vista redevelopment plan.

“The Central Public Works Department has asked Tata Projects Ltd to start the construction work of the new parliament building on January 15 as it is considered auspicious to commence such a project on the day of first dawn after ‘Makar Sankranti’,” the official sources said. The new building is being constructed by Tata Projects Ltd.

The redevelopment project of the Central Vista — the nation’s power corridor — envisages a new triangular parliament building, a common central secretariat, revamping of the three-km-long Rajpath from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, new Prime Minister Residence and PMO, and a new Vice-President Enclave. Sources said that Tata Projects started mobilising machinary and other items required to start construction work of the government’s ambitious project.

The Heritage Conservation Committee on Monday gave its nod to the new Parliament project, after the Supreme Court asked the Centre to seek prior approval from the panel and other relevant authorities before starting construction work. According to the plan, work on redevelopment of Rajpath will start soon after this year’s Republic Day parade. The work is expected to be completed in the next 10 months and the 2022 Republic Day parade will be held on a redeveloped Rajpath.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building, which is expected to be completed by the 75th anniversary of India’s independence and is estimated to cost Rs 971 crore. The new building will come up in front of the existing Parliament House that was built nearly 94 years ago at a cost of Rs 83 lakh at that time and would eventually be turned into a museum.

The new building will house larger Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Halls, with capacities of 888 seats and 384 seats respectively, to accommodate an expanded Parliament after the freeze on its expansion lifts in 2026. The Lok Sabha Hall will also have additional capacity, up to 1,272 seats, to host joint sessions. According to the plan, provisions in the furniture will be made for smart displays and biometrics for ease of voting with an intuitive and graphical interface, digital language interpretation and recording infrastructure to produce real-time metadata, programmable microphones that put the control of managing the house with the speaker.