On May 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will officially open the eagerly anticipated new Parliament building.
The four-story building’s construction is thought to have cost 970 crore rupees. Tata Projects Limited built the structure after HCP Design, Planning and Management of Ahmedabad designed it.
The Lok Sabha will have a seating capacity of 888 in the new Parliament, up from 543 in the old Parliament House, and the Rajya Sabha will have a sitting capacity of 300, up from 250 previously.
Joint sittings of members of both Houses would be held in the Lok Sabha, which can hold 1,280 Members of Parliament at such times, as there is no Central Hall in the new Parliament.
The Central Hall, which has a capacity of 436 persons with additional seats added during the joint sittings, has been the location of joint sessions of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha up till this point.
The Modi government will end its nine-year term in power two days after the next Parliament is sworn in. On May 26, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the oath of office for his first term.
The next general election is set for 2024.
“Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and invited him to inaugurate the New Parliament Building. Construction of the new Parliament building is complete now and the new building symbolises the spirit of self,” the Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a statement.
This effectively means that Parliament’s monsoon session will take place in the new structure.
The current Parliament building was finished in 1927, making it close to a century old. According to reports, the main motivation for creating a new Parliament was a lack of space and the necessity for modernization.
Resolutions encouraging the government to establish a new Parliament building were adopted by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Mr. Modi laid the cornerstone for the new structure in December 2020.
It was planned for construction to be finished in 2022, the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.
The foundation stone of the old Parliament was laid in 1921. It will now be conserved as a heritage asset.
