Ahead of winter session, acoustics, furniture and toilets being fixed in new Parliament building
The new building was used for the first time during the Special Session of Parliament in September.
3 min read
According to sources in Lok Sabha, apart from the minor adjustments, there is civil work ongoing in the new building that still remains sealed off to Parliament staff and visitors. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey) The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has been tasked to finish all the tweaks and repairs at the new Parliament building ahead of the winter session. These fixes include echo issues in the Lok Sabha chamber to furniture requirements of the members.
The new building was used for the first time during the Special Session of Parliament in September. According to sources, an echo was observed during the special session. Though work of installing acoustic tiles is finished now, some materials are being replaced to address the echo issue. New furniture pieces are also being made available for those who had raised new requirements after moving into the premises. The toilets in the new building are also being completed, they said. These adjustments are based on the feedback from ministers, members of parliament and officials working in the building as per to sources in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Lok Sabha. According to sources in Lok Sabha, apart from the minor adjustments, there is civil work ongoing in the new building that still remains sealed off to Parliament staff and visitors.
In the past few weeks, the CPWD has issued a Rs 6.64 crore tender for ancillary works, including security barriers, plumbing connections, cupboards and other furniture; and a Rs 5.99 lakh tender for changing damaged sandstone in three courtyards of Parliament House; as well as a Rs 20 crore tender for “landscape and hardscape” work in Parliament Complex. These, the CPWD said, would be done in time for the winter session, which is yet to be announced but usually is scheduled from November end or early December onwards.
After the special session in September, a war of words had broken out between BJP and Congress MPs regarding the new building. “The sheer joy of simply hanging out in Parliament has disappeared. I used to look forward to going to the old building. The new complex is painful and agonising. I am sure many of my colleagues across the party lines feel the same,” Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh had said in a post on X on September 23.
BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP J P Nadda had responded by posting: “Even by the lowest standards of the Congress party, this is a pathetic mindset. This is nothing but an insult to the aspirations of 140 crore Indians.” The new building was inaugurated on May 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making it the first building under the Central Vista redevelopment plan to be completed. Meanwhile, construction on three buildings of the Common Central Secretariat, the Executive Enclave that contains the Prime Minister’s Office, the Prime Minister’s Residence and the Vice-President’s Enclave is underway.
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