A 2012 letter from a special duty official to the Ministry of Urban Development saying that then-President Meira Kumar had granted approval of the new Parliament building accessed by Times Now Photo credit: Times Now
New Delhi: The congressional duplicity on the new Parliament complex under the Central View Project has been exposed. Times Now has accessed a letter from a special duty officer sent to former Lok Sabha Chairman Meira Kumar to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, stating that the President has granted approval for the construction of the new parliament building. According to the content of the letter, Kumar had also said that the issue should be given the highest priority.
It should be noted that OSD to Kumar had sent a letter to the then secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development on July 13, 2012. The letter read: “The Parliament Building was built in the 1920s and commissioned in 1927. It has been declared a Grade 1 heritage building. Over the decades, due to aging and overuse, the Parliament building has started to show signs of distress in various places. The current seating capacity of Lok sabha and Rajya Sabha is likely to increase after 2026. The seat in Lok Sabha may increase before 2026 also if Parliament passes the women’s reserve bill that provides for increased force. In such a scenario, it will be necessary to have a new Lok sabha chamber with greater seating capacity. “
The letter further stated that CPWD should be instructed to find an area in the vicinity of the Parliament House complex and identify a suitable location to construct a new, state-of-the-art Parliament building.
Congress attacks Prime Minister Modi in the new Parliament building
Congress has vigorously attacked the Modi government for the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building.
The head of Congress, Randeep Surjewala, criticized Prime Minister Modi who laid the foundation stone for the new Parliament building at a time when farmers were protesting.
“Dear Prime Minister, Parliament is not cement and stones. It visualizes democracy. It is steeped in the Constitution. It is economic-political-social equality. It is compassion and camaraderie. It is the aspirations of 130 crore of Indians. What would a building these values represent? “he said on Twitter.
Another congressional leader and former union finance minister, P Chidambaram, said: “The foundations for a new Parliament building were laid on the ruins of a liberal democracy.”
Chidambaram’s party colleague Jairam Ramesh said that the existing British-built Parliament building “has a striking similarity to the Chausath Yogini Temple in Morena in Madhya Pradesh, while the new ‘atmanirbhar’ Parliament building has a strange resemblance to the Pentagon in Washington DC “.
Prime Minister Modi lays the foundation stone for the new Parliament building
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020. The new Parliament complex will accommodate 888 Lok Sabha members, while the Rajya Sabha will be able to house 384 MPs. The lower house chamber will have the option to increase its session capacity to 1,224 members during joint sessions.
According to the government, the new building is an intrinsic part of the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and will be a historic opportunity to build the People’s Parliament for the first time after independence, one that will match the needs and aspirations of the ‘ New India ‘on the 75th anniversary of independence in 2022. The sprawling complex will be built on an area of 64,500 square meters at a cost of Rs 971 crore.
