No new Central Hall, peacock, lotus theme: 10 facts of new Parliament building

By Navneet Mishra

New Delhi, Dec 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday performed the Bhoomi Poojan and foundation stone laying ceremony of the new Parliament House in New Delhi.

The new Parliament building will be ready by October 2022 at a cost of about Rs 971 crore. Further, by the year 2024, 40-40 sqm of office space will also be made available to all MPs in the Parliament House complex. Officials of the Ministry of Urban Affairs and the Lok Sabha Secretariat told IANS that the construction of the new Parliament building would also provide employment. A total of 41 lakh man-days will be created. At the same time, revenue of Rs 100 million will also be provided through GST.

These are the 10 major features of the new Parliament House:

1) No Central Hall
The new Parliament House will not have a Central Hall. At present, the old Parliament House has a central hall with a total capacity of 436 people. The joint session of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has been held in this central hall till now. But due to low capacity, about 200 chairs have to be installed during the joint session in Central Hall. This raises the challenge of security. In such a situation, this problem will be removed in the new Parliament House. The design of the Lok Sabha Hall in the new Parliament House is being done so that a joint session can be held there easily. The new Lok Sabha Hall will seat 1,272 people.

2) Seats in Lok Sabha
The new Parliament House will have a seating arrangement of 888 MPs in the Lok Sabha. The current Lok Sabha has a seating capacity of only 552 MPs. Thus, when the number of MPs will increase in the coming years, there will be no problem. The new Lok Sabha will be thrice the present size.

3) Seats in Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha of the new Parliament House will also be larger than before. The current Rajya Sabha has a total strength of 245 seats. There will be a provision of 384 seats in the new Rajya Sabha. Thus even if the number of Rajya Sabha MPs increases in future, there will be no shortage of space in the House.

4) Earthquake safety
The new Parliament building will also be able to withstand earthquakes. Delhi was in Zone 2 when the old Parliament House was built, but is now in Zone 4, as the risk of earthquake has increased in NCR. In such a situation, the new Parliament House will be strengthened so that it can withstand strong shocks in Zone 5.

5) Peacock and lotus flower theme
The theme of the structure of the House of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will vary. The theme of the Lok Sabha will be the National Bird - Peacock and the theme of the Rajya Sabha will be the National Flower - Lotus.

6) Modern facilities on every seat
The country will get the gift of a new Parliament House in the year 2022, on the 75th anniversary of Independence. It will be the first Parliament building built after Independence. Every MP's seat in the house will have a multimedia display in front of it.

7) Eco-friendly construction
The new Parliament building will use green construction materials as an eco-friendly building. Devices will be installed which will save 30 per cent electricity. There will also be arrangements for rainwater harvesting and solar power generation. Houses will have more comfortable seats than before. Tata Projects Limited will construct the new Parliament building on a total area of 64,500 sqm. The building is designed by HCP Design Planning and Management Private Limited.

8) More committee rooms
The number of committee rooms in the new Parliament House will be much more. Sophisticated audio-visual systems will be available in every committee room. This will facilitate the functioning of parliamentary committees.

9) Special facilities for media
The new Parliament House will also have special facilities for the media. A total of 530 seats will be arranged for the media. Both houses will have galleries for the general public to witness parliamentary proceedings. There will be a clear view of the house from every seat.

10) Public Parliament House
Preparations are on to make the new Parliament House a public parliament house. Entry of children, elderly and disabled will be easier. There will be two special entrance points for the general public to reach the Public Gallery and Central Constitutional Gallery. Fire safety was not properly maintained in the earlier building. The new building will have better fire safety features.

Source: IANS