Rising concern over the structural safety of Parliament House, a heritage building showing signs of “distress”, and the need for more space for Members of Parliament seems to have prompted lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to write to Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu to consider construction of a new Parliament building.
Sources said she has suggested two options for the alternative site, one within the Parliament complex itself and another across Rajpath.
In 2012, a report prepared by the Union Urban Development Ministry and submitted to the lok Sabha Secretariat had also recommended that a new structure could be built across the Vijay Chowk as was envisaged by Sir lutyens himself.
“While planning the buildings around Raisina Hill, lutyens had thought of a circular building, a mirror image of Parliament House on the southern side of Vijay Chowk. The plot that was marked for this construction is currently being used as temporary barracks. This land can be used for building a new Parliament House that will address the current space and safety concerns,” the report had said.
The Ministry had suggested that the new building could be made to resemble the existing House on the outside, but the interiors could be designed to accommodate the needs of the MPs. Both buildings could be connected through a tunnel passing right under Vijay Chowk.
Sumitra Mahajan is also of the view that the existing building will not be sufficient to meet the future needs. She has said that the number of seats in lok Sabha is likely to go up after 2026 “in accordance with the provisions of the explanation to clause (3) Article 81 of the Constitution” while the present seating capacity of the House is 550 without any scope for increasing it any further.
The sources explained that the number of seats in the lok Sabha may go up after 2026 because of this clause in Article 81 which decides representation on the basis of population determined by the last Census (possibly the 2021 Census).
In her letter, Mahajan has said, “On account of ageing of the Parliament building and expansion in activities, staff, etc, the building has shown signs of distress and over utilisation...Under the circumstances, there is an imperative need for the construction of a new state-of-the-art Parliament building.”
She argued that when the present structure was commissioned in 1927, the number of staff, security personnel, media visitors and parliamentary activities were limited, but over the years, the parliamentary activities and number of people working there and visitors have increased manifold.
With the expanding scope of Parliamentary functions, increase in number of committees and security requirements, the demand for space has increased several times, the Speaker has underlined.
There are also plans, keeping in view the technological advancements, to equip the MPs with latest gadgets to enable them to make the best possible use of technological tools available and to make Parliament paperless, she said.
“This would also require re-designing and refurbishing of the seating arrangements in the lok Sabha chamber. Whereas there are limitations to this in the present seating arrangements in the chamber, a new building will offer better scope for a modern Parliament building equipped with latest technological tools,” Mahajan said.
Since the building has been declared as ‘Heritage Grade-I’ structure, there are several limitations on structural repairs, additions, alterations and modifications to it, the Speaker has said.
Giving two options for the new building, Mahajan said it could be within the Parliament complex itself which would require relocation of certain facilities and services or it could be built on the other side of Rajpath, which is a “suitably large area and would enable a free design of a new Parliament House building.”
She suggested that an underground link beneath Rajpath may be constructed to provide connectivity between the existing building and the proposed new complex.
About a year back, a suggestion to build a new Parliament was reportedly made at a meeting of Budget Committee of Parliament including Deputy Speaker of lok Sabha M Thambidurai, Public Accounts Committee Chairman KV Thomas and Estimates Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi.
Thomas had said that the existing building was “old” and a new Parliament building should be thought of as provision needed to be made for the next 100 years.