Emblem on top, new House building a shade shorter than India Gate

In the initial presentation, the chief architect of the Central Vista redevelopment plan had said that no building in the plan would exceed the height of India Gate.

The India Gate, on the eastern axial end of the Rajpath, the Central Vista and Vijay Chowk, stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge moulding.

“Without the emblem, the (new Parliament) building would be 32 metres high; with the emblem and its base, it comes up to 39.6 metres,” a source involved in the project said.

At 6.5 metres in height, the National Emblem is made of bronze, with a total weight of 9,500 kg and has been cast at the top of the central foyer of the building. A supporting structure of steel weighing around 6,500 kg has been constructed to support the Emblem.

The concept sketch and process of casting of the National Emblem went through eight different stages of preparation — from clay modelling/computer graphics to bronze casting and polishing.

When the plan to construct the new Parliament building and other structures in the Central Vista plan was discussed in the initial stage, one of the earlier proposals during the bidding stage had proposed giant structures around Rajpath. But government officers had raised concern of potential fire hazards. It was also decided that the height of each proposed building will not be even one inch higher than that of India Gate to maintain a “structured profile,” a source said.

At 55 metres, only the Rashtrapati Bhavan dome is taller than India Gate at present. The new Parliament building project was awarded to Tata Projects at Rs 971 crore. In 2021, the firm carried out a survey. Given his experience and credentials, Sunil Deore, 49, a gold medalist sculptor from Mumbai’s JJ School of Arts, was among artists shortlisted to execute the task. Deore said it took him five months to prepare a clay model at his Aurangabad-based studio, which was then cleared by the panel.