Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the new Parliament building, which is expected to be completed by 2022.
Tata Trusts' Chairman Ratan Tata, Union Minister HS Puri, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh and various religious leaders were also present at the event. Tata Projects Ltd has been given the contract for the project.
Among other leaders, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, foreign Envoys and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also attended the ceremony.
According to a release by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the new building is an intrinsic part of the vision of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and will be a landmark opportunity to build peoples' Parliament for the first time after independence, one which will match the needs and aspirations of 'New India' in the 75th anniversary of independence in 2022.
"The new Parliament building will be modern, state-of-the-art and energy-efficient, with highly non-obtrusive security facilities to be built as a triangular-shaped building, adjacent to the present Parliament. Lok Sabha will be three times of the existing size and Rajya Sabha will be substantially bigger," the release said.
The interiors of the new building will showcase a rich blend of Indian culture and diversity of our regional arts, crafts, textiles and architecture, it said. As per the PMO, the design plan includes space for a magnificent Central Constitutional Gallery, which will be accessible to the public.
However, no construction can immediately begin as various pleas against the project are pending before the Supreme Court. Earlier on December 7, expressing displeasure over the way the Centre is "aggressively" going ahead with the construction work of the Central Vista, the Supreme Court had allowed the foundation stone laying ceremony for the new Parliament building on December 10 but directed that no construction should take place.
The bench was hearing a batch of petitions, which were challenging the project related to the redevelopment of the Central Vista in the national capital and were even levelling certain allegations of violations in the project.
(Inputs from ANI)
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