Former Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Dr Karan Singh on Monday wrote to Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu urging him not to consider abandoning the beautiful, unique and round existing Parliament building for a new one.
In a letter to Naidu, also the chairman of Rajya Sabha, Singh suggested changes in the existing Parliament building to accommodate more members.
“I am of the confirmed opinion that the beautiful, unique, round Parliament building that we have, should, on no account, be abandoned. We will never be able to build such a structure again, and to shift into a modern building will deprive us of the special ambience of the old one,” wrote Dr Singh. “In my view, it should be possible for us to shift unnecessary material and offices out of the present building and extend the halls to accommodate more members,” he wrote.
Dr Singh, a member of the Jammu royal family who has been the Sadr-e-Riyasat of Jammu & Kashmir, expressed his views on how to restructure the Parliament building. The Congress leader further stated that the unnecessary offices and materials could be shifted out of the present building and the halls could be extended to accommodate more members.
He suggested that the Lok Sabha could be shifted to the Central Hall where the Constituent Assembly met for several years. “The Rajya Sabha could be shifted into the Lok Sabha hall, and its old hall could be used as a Central Hall-type lounge for members. This would be far better than abandoning this magnificent building, which is redolent with history and the memory of our great Constitution makers and Parliamentarians,” he said.
Vice President Naidu on August 5 had said that a request would be made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to undertake the modernisation of the Parliament House.
The Modi Government has awarded a contract ‘project management consultancy’ (PMC) to Ahmedabad based firm — HCP Design, Planning and Management Private Limited for consultancy and designing of the Parliament building, common Central Secretariat building and the Central Vista — a three-kilometre stretch from India Gate to Rajpath.
The same architect firm designed BJP’s new headquarters in the national Capital, IIM campus in Ahmedabad, the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project, State Secretariat and Central Vista in Gandhinagar, and executed the redevelopment of temple complex in Varanasi.
Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has also made it clear that the iconic buildings - President House (Rashtrapati Bhawan), South Block, North Block and the Parliament building will not be pulled down but will be redesigned.
The Parliament House was designed in 1912-13 by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker. The construction of the building began in 1921 and was completed in 1927.