Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday sought to raise the seating capacity of the proposed Assembly building anticipating that its strength would go up in the future.
At a meeting with Greater Ranchi Development Authority (GRDA), which is in the process of building the new structure at Kute village near the State Capital, the Chief Minister gave the instructions to the officials in order to accommodate the elected members coming in more numbers in future.
The meeting which involved top officials in the Government, including Development Commissioner R S Poddar, Planning Secretary D K Tiwari, Building Construction Secretary Sukhdev Singh and Secretary for Urban Development Ajay Kumar Singh, the Chief Minister indicated the expected number of seats which can go up to 150. “He wanted to increase seating capacity in the House to as many as 150. Presently there was a plan for 81 odd seats which is the existing strength of the Jharkhand Assembly,” said an official after the meeting.
Moreover, the proposed site at Kute village is still under cloud amid protest of locals against the land acquisition being made. The GRDA despite all its efforts has not been able to start construction work of the boundary wall. The stalemate has irked Assembly Speaker Shashank Shekhar Bhokta who has also shot off a letter to the Chief Minister suggesting him to shift the proposed construction site from Kute to the existing campus of the Assembly.
The Speaker has on previous occasions also showed his displeasure with the progress made on ground and his recent step is seen as the last ditch effort to start construction of a new building for the Assembly pending since 2,000 .
At the meeting the Chief Minister also instructed to provide compensation on revised rates to the land losers in the two villages of Khunti where proposed ‘Knowledge City’ is to come up. land has not been acquired in the two villages which is hampering the project for several years. He also stressed that the land acquisition work be complete as soon as possible.
The meeting also decided to transfer fund under JNNURM to JUDCO for which, in principle, decision has already been taken. Employees of GRDA would also get TA and daily allowance.