India / New Parliament building to be ready by October 2022

New Delhi: The construction of the new Parliament building will commence in December this year and is likely to be completed by October 2022, Lok Sabha Secretariat said on Friday. All necessary measures have been put in place to ensure that Parliament sessions can be held uninterrupted in the existing building during the construction period, the Secretariat added.

The timeline regarding the construction of the building was revealed during a review meeting chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affair Hardeep Singh Puri and senior officials. While speaking at the meeting, Birla asserted that there should be no compromise in ensuring quality control and timely completion of the work relating to the new Parliament House.

Monitoring committee to be constituted

Officials have further informed that sufficient steps have been taken to control air and noise pollution during the construction work for the new Parliament building. The new building will have separate offices for all MPs and it will be equipped with the latest digital interfaces as a step towards creating 'paperless offices', the officials added. Furthermore, a monitoring committee will be constituted to supervise the construction work. The committee will include officers of Lok Sabha Secretariat, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, NDMC, CPWD and architect, designer of the project.

Ground-breaking ceremony in December

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new building is expected to be held in December. Further, the new building will have a grand Constitution Hall to showcase India's democratic heritage. It will also have a lounge for members of Parliament, multiple committee rooms, a library, dining areas and ample parking space.

The Lok Sabha chamber in the new building will also have a seating capacity for 888 members, while Rajya Sabha will have 384 seats for the upper house members, according to reports. The decision has been taken keeping in mind the future increase in the number of members for the two houses. Lok Sabha at present has a sanctioned strength of 543 members and Rajya Sabha of 245.

The existing Parliament building is a British era building and it was designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker. The Foundation Stone for the same was laid on February 12, 1921, and the construction took almost six years. The building was constructed at the cost of Rs 83 lakh at that time. The opening ceremony was performed on January 18, 1927, by Lord Irwin the then Governor-General of India.

The new building will be constructed by Tata Projects Limited, close to the existing one under the Central Vista redevelopment project. Last month the company won the bid to construct the new parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.90 crore.