DNA Special: New Parliament building “symbol of new and self-reliant India"

The new Parliament building, the foundation stone for which was laid Thursday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will replace the 93-year-old Parliament House. The construction of the new building will be done by 2022.

"If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud," stated Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt at the trial for bombing the Delhi Central Legislative Assembly, 88 years ago, on April 8, 1929. Delhi Central Legislative Assembly is the current Parliament House.

These two young Indian revolutionaries turned the deaf, aristocratic British ears towards a youth upheaval that changed the course of India's freedom movement. In 1929, in order to court arrest, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw political handouts and smoke bombs at the Delhi Central Legislative Assembly.

The highlight of the ₹20,000-crore Central Vista project that PM Modi said will become "a symbol of a new and self-reliant India". Architect Bimal Patel said the triangular shape of the new Parliament was a reference to "sacred geometries in various religions and cultures of India".

To be built over 64,500 sq m, it will be located a stone's throw from Rashtrapati Bhavan. The four-storey building will be triangular and its interiors will have three national symbols - the lotus, the peacock and the banyan tree - as its themes. The new Parliament building will be spread over 64,500 sqm area. While the old Parliament House is spherical, spread over an area of 47,500 sqm.

The Parliament building alone will cost an estimated ₹ 971 crore and will, the government hopes, be ready before India's 75th Independence Day. However, construction cannot yet begin as a legal challenge is pending in the Supreme Court.

To be constructed by Tata Projects Ltd, the new parliament building will overlook the old - which was built nearly 100 years ago at a cost of Rs 83 lakh and will be turned into a museum.

The new Parliament House will have a seating arrangement of 888 members in the Lok Sabha. At present, India has 543 Lok Sabha seats. Similarly, 384 members will be able to sit in the Rajya Sabha of the new Parliament House, which currently has 245 seats. When a joint meeting of the two houses is convened at the new Parliament House, the hall earmarked for it will have a seating arrangement of 1,272 members. At present, the joint meeting of the two Houses is held at the Centre Hall with only 430 seats.

The new Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha halls will have increased seating capacities (888 and 384 seats, respectively) in anticipation of an expanded Parliament; a 25-year-old freeze on increasing state-wise distribution of seats ends in 2026.

In addition, seating in the Lok Sabha hall can be expanded to 1,272 to host joint sessions. So, given the future, 150 per cent more seats have been provided to sit in the new parliament building.

The new Parliament building will be completely earthquake resistant and will be designed keeping in mind the safety of parliamentarians.

In addition, the new parliament building will be eco-friendly, where electricity consumption will also be 30 per cent lower than before.

The seats where MPs will sit will also have the facility to use modern gadgets.

The approval for the construction of the new Parliament building has met with several oppositions.

The Supreme Court had sought an assurance from the government that it would not start the construction of the building before the completion of the hearing on the petitions, though the court had allowed the laying of the foundation stone and paper works related to it.

On Wednesday, we talked about the extreme damage of democracy to the country and the opposition to the construction of the new Parliament building is also an example of the same. Some people accept the symbols of slavery but India's self-reliant Parliament building does not meet acceptance.

However, amid all these oppositions, PM Modi laid the foundation stone of this new building. A large number of opposition leaders opposed it by saying that Prime Minister Modi is promoting only one religion by land land, but the fact is that the religious leaders of all major religions prayed in this foundation stone laying ceremony.

"Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said today is a milestone in India`s democratic history, filled with the idea of Indianness. He said that the start of the construction of the Parliament House of India is one of the most important stages of our democratic traditions. He gave a call to the people of India, to build this new building of the Parliament together. The Prime Minister recalled the moment when he entered the Parliament House for the first time in 2014 as an MP. He said that when he entered the Parliament House for the first time, he bowed his head and saluted this temple of democracy, before stepping into it.He remarked that many new things are being done in the new Parliament House that will increase the efficiency of the MPs and modernise their work culture.

Some interesting facts about the current Parliament building:

The present Parliament House was inaugurated on January 18, 1927. Its architectural work was entrusted to Sir Herbert Baker.

Sir Herbert Baker wanted the Parliament House to be triangle-shaped. A central hall should be built in between. But then British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens opposed it. He had suggested shaping it round in his proposal. Ignoring Herbert Baker's suggestion, the British had accepted Edwin Lutyens' proposal.

In addition, there are several hand-made photographs on the walls in the direction of the Central Hall inside the Parliament House. These photos reflect many important events in India's history. The first Speaker of Lok Sabha Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar had constituted a committee for the same and invited painters from all over the country to make these pictures.

An interesting fact about the present Parliament House is that when a new MP reaches the Parliament House, he goes astray. This is due to the design of this building. Being a round shape, most of the curves inside the Parliament House seem the same, which makes it time for many MPs to understand the building.

There is another interesting anecdote related to the present Parliament House. Initially, the ceiling was very high to keep the interiors of the building cool. However, a high ceiling meant voices would echo. Thereafter, the height of the ceiling was brought down by 11 feet.