New Parliament building to open by January end

New Delhi: The new Parliament building is likely to be open by January end as the last-minute preparations are underway. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, is responsible for the construction of new Parliament building and the Central Vista redevelopment.

The Ministry has posted the latest pictures of new Parliament building on its website                         https://centralvista.gov.in/ last night. The Government source also informed the news agencies that it will soon take a decision on the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

Meanwhile, amid reports of the President’s address in the new Parliament building, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has said that President Droupadi Murmu will address the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament in the  existing building.

In a tweet, Birla said that the New Parliament Building is still under construction. “During Budget Session, the Hon’ble President will address Members of two Houses in the existing Parliament House Building,” he tweeted. This will be the first address to the two Houses of Parliament by President Murmu since her elevation to the top post in July last year.

The Budget Session will commence on Jan. 31 and the first leg will go on till Feb. 13. The Parliament session will reconvene on March 13 and will go on till 6 April. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget in Parliament on Feb. 1.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said in November last year that it was up to the Government to select the date of the building’s inauguration. In December 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building which will have modern facilities.

TATA Projects Ltd. is constructing the new Parliament building which will have a grand Constitution Hall to showcase India’s democratic heritage, a lounge for members of Parliament, a library, multiple committee rooms, dining areas and ample parking space. The new Parliament building is part of the redevelopment of the Central Vista, the nation’s power corridor.

Revamping the three-km Rajpath from the Rashtrapathi Bhavan to the India Gate, constructing a common Central Secretariat, a new office and residence of the Prime Minister, and a new Vice-President enclave are also part of the project being executed by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which comes under the MoHUA, Government of India.

Meanwhile, citing security reasons, a couple of actual pictures of the new Parliament building were removed from the dedicated website for the entire Central Vista redevelopment project on Friday.