While People Are Dying Due To COVID, Losing Jobs, Govt Is Busy With A New Parliament Complex
What is the biggest problem facing India today? Is it the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment, job losses, state of the economy, worst GDP figures in decades, Chinese aggression? Not any of them, but the lack of a bigger Parliament building!?
So the present PM Narendra Modi-led government has set out to build a new central vista, in the heart of the national capital.
On Wednesday, Tata Projects Limited won the bid to construct a new parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.90 crore.
The new building will be constructed close to the existing one under the Central Vista redevelopment project. It is expected to be completed in 21 months from the start of construction work.
Tata Projects Limited won the contract
"Tata Projects Limited has won the contract to build a new parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.9 crore," an official said, adding the project cost also includes maintenance works.
The redevelopment project of Central Vista -- the nation's power corridor -- envisages a new triangular parliament building, a common central secretariat and revamping of the 3-km-long Rajpath, from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the principal agency for creation and maintenance of all government assets, said the new building will come up at plot number 118 of the Parliament House Estate.
'More MPs could be accommodated'
More MPs can be accommodated in the new building as the strength of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha may increase after delimitation of constituencies. It will have spacious seating arrangements for around 1,400 MPs. The building will be a reinforced cement concrete framed structure, another official said.
According to CPWD, the existing parliament building will continue to function during the entire period of execution of the project. Once the new building is built, the existing parliament building will be used for other purposes.
It said, "The plinth of the new building shall match that of the existing one, which is approximately 1.8 metres above the ground level."
"The total plinth area of the proposed building is approximately 65,000 sqm, including the basement area of approximately 16,921 sqm. The building will be ground plus two storeyed with one basement," the CPWD said.
Central Vista redevelopment project??
Under the Central Vista redevelopment project, prime minister's residence and office are likely to be shifted near the South Block and vice-president's new house will be in the vicinity of the North Block.
According to the plan, the vice president's current residence is among those buildings identified by the government for demolition in Lutyens' Delhi for the purpose of the project. There are plans to covert the North and South Blocks, which symbolise the government's authority since their inception in Lutyens' Delhi, into museums.
Gujarat-based architecture firm HCP Designs has designed the Central Vista redevelopment project. The firm has the responsibility of preparing the master plan of the project, including designs landscape and traffic integration plans, and parking facilities among others.
In September last year, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said the British ruled India for 190 years and they had good architects who built buildings which is now part of the country's cultural heritage.
The government is likely to demolish buildings such as Udyog Bhawan, Krishi Bhawan and Shastri Bhawan to facilitate new Central Secretariat which will house offices of several ministries. Puri had said that buildings that had been built in 1960s and 70s should have been torn down many years ago.
