India
Modi to lay foundation stone today
Updated : Aug 18, 2016, 07:50 AM IST
After decades in a bungalow in Lutyen's Delhi, the BJP will be moving to a new multi-storeyed office, five kilometres away, before the next Lok Sabha elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the new building at Deendayal Upadhyay Marg on Thursday. The new party headquarters is expected to be inaugurated in 2018.
Spread over 8,000 square meters, the party leadership has approved a plan which aims at making its headquarters in the Capital eco-friendly and hi-tech. "It will reflect all part of the country. The exterior will have a traditional look while the green building will have all the latest hi-tech facilities," said party general secretary Arun Singh.
Besides leaving 70 per cent of the area green, there will be solar panels, bio-toilets with waste recycling technology and rooms with natural lights, sources said. The new office with a seven-storeyed building at the back and three-storeyed wings in front, will have 70 rooms, two conference rooms and a digital library.
The two cafeterias in the complex will serve food from every part of the country, the sources said.
At the new office, tight security will be ensured with RF tags. After Modi took over as Prime Minister, there had been security concerns at the existing Ashoka Road office because of several adjoining buildings. Modi has made several visits to the party headquarters in the past two years. The BJP, now the largest political party in the world, also faced a space crunch and felt the need for a larger office.
At Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, named after the RSS ideologue whose statue will be put up at the office, several political parties have been alloted land.