New Delhi:
The new parliament building, the cornerstone of which was laid today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be built on an area of 64,500 square meters, a stone’s throw from Rashtrapati Bhavan, and is the culmination of the ambitious 20,000 Central View project. government crore. .
The four-story building will have a triangular shape, while its interiors will have three national symbols as main themes: Lotus, Peacock and Banyan Tree.
There are plans to finish the building, estimated at Rs 971 crore, before the country’s 75th Independence Day in 2022, but construction cannot yet begin as a legal challenge to the project is pending in the Supreme Court. The new parliament building in the heart of Delhi will be a “symbol of a new and self-sufficient India,” Prime Minister Modi said.
The new building, which is being built by Tata Projects Ltd, will be located opposite the existing Parliament House which was built almost 100 years ago at a cost of Rs 83 lakh at the time and would eventually be turned into a museum.
It will house the largest Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha halls, with capacity for 888 seats and 384 seats respectively, to accommodate an expanded Parliament following the freeze of its expansion elevators in 2026. The Lok Sabha hall will also have additional capacity, up to 1,272 seats. . , to host joint sessions.
“The new Parliament building is designed in a triangular shape as it is located on a triangular plot and has three main spaces: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and a central hall. Furthermore, triangles are sacred geometries in various religions and cultures of the country . “said the architect of the new building, Bimal Patel.
“In the Lok Sabha chamber, we have used the national Peacock bird as the theme, in the Rajya Sabha chamber we have used the Lotus national flower as the theme and in the Central Lounge courtyard we have used the Banyan national tree as the theme,” said Mr. Patel added.
The National Emblem will crown the new Parliament building. The ceiling of the new Parliament building will have fresco paintings like that of Rashtrapati Bhawan and the carpets will have traditional designs, rather than the current single-color carpets. To preserve some of the features of the existing Parliament, the interior walls of the new one will have shloka inscriptions.
Dholpur stone will be used to a great extent, as is the case with the existing Parliament, and in some interior parts, red granite may be used instead of the red sandstone.
The new building has been designed by Ahmedabad-based HCP Design and Management Pvt Limited and will be equipped with all modern audiovisual communication facilities and data network systems. Special care is being taken to ensure that all environmental safeguards are followed, including minimal disturbance in Parliament sessions during construction work, authorities said.
The new Parliament building will house committee rooms, the main offices of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the Lok Sabha Secretariat and the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, public access dining rooms, galleries and museum exhibits.
The Central Constitution Hall and Gallery will display the Constitution of India and other artifacts of Indian heritage.
Provisions will be made in the furniture for smart screens and biometrics to facilitate voting with an intuitive graphical interface, digital language interpretation and recording infrastructure to produce real-time metadata, programmable microphones that put control of house management with a speaker. The interior design will be detailed through virtual sound simulations to establish the appropriate levels of reverberation sound and limit the echo, these will be some of the audiovisual technological characteristics of the new installation.
A central courtyard will provide an open gathering space for members of both houses along with an adjoining café. There will be galleries and museum grade exhibits that will be accessible to all. Cameras are proposed for all members of Parliament in the vicinity of both facilities. It is designed to have VVIP access on the underground level, freeing up the ground floor entrances for public and official use. The proposed Parliament will also be fully handicapped accessible and the corridors have very effective emergency evacuation arrangements.
Entries would include one ceremonial for the President and Prime Minister, one for the Lok Sabha President, Rajya Sabha President, and Members of Parliament, and two public entrances.
(With PTI inputs)
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