PM Modi To Perform Ground-Breaking Ceremony For New Parliament House On Dec 10, says LS Speaker OM Birla

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay foundation stone for the construction of the new Parliament building on December 10. It is expected to be completed in 21 months, says  Lok Sabha Speaker OM Birla Sabha in a statement. The ceremony will begin with ‘Bhumi Pujan’ at 1300 hrs IST by the Prime Minister. On the completion of the 75 years of India’s independence, we will begin the session of both the Houses in the new Parliament building. This will be built in an area of 64,500 square metres at an expense of Rs 971 crores. Tata Projects Ltd has been given the contract for the project. The design has been prepared by HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd. The new building will be one such temple of Aatmanirbhar Bharat that will reflect the diversity of the nation. It will be 17,000 square metres bigger than the old Parliament building,” OM Birla said. New Parliament building will be earthquake resistant; 2,000 people will be directly involved in construction, 9,000 indirectly. The current parliament has many structural as well as Spatial issues. Also, in 70 years many seats have increased which has created a shortage of seats in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha which forces multiple MPs to sit in a crunched space. Five statues, including that of Mahatma Gandhi and Bhim Rao Ambedkar, in the Parliament complex are also likely to be relocated temporarily due to the construction work and they will be reinstalled at prominent places within the new complex once the project is completed. The new building will be constructed close to the existing one under the Central Vista redevelopment project. The redevelopment project of Central Vista — the nation’s power corridor — envisages a new triangular Parliament building, a common central secretariat and revamping of the 3-km-long Rajpath, from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate. According to the plan, the new Parliament building, which will have separate offices for all MPs, 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. Rajya Sabha’s website says the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in a meditating posture sculpted by Ram Sutar, was unveiled by the then President of India Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma on October 2, 1993. It also said that the statue was donated by the Ministry of Urban Development. The existing building is a British-era building, designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker who were responsible for planning and construction of New Delhi by then British Government. The foundation stone of the existing Parliament House was laid on February 12, 1921 and the construction took six years and cost Rs 83 lakh at that time. The opening ceremony was performed on January 18, 1927, by the then Governor-General of India, Lord Irwin. The CPWD says the existing Parliament building will continue to function during the entire period of execution of the project. Once the new building is built, the existing Parliament building will be used for other purposes. The plinth of the new building shall match that of the existing one, which is approximately 1.8 metres above the ground level.