New Delhi: Denying media reports that the Presidential address to the joint session of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will take place in the new Parliament building on January 31, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Friday that the President's address will be delivered in the old Parliament building.
"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," tweeted Birla.
Earlier, a top government official told ETV Bharat that only the Presidential address to the joint session of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will take place in the new Parliament building on January 31 adding that the coming budget session is likely to take place in the old Parliament building.
Although the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), which has been assigned to construct the new Parliament building has expedited its work, sources said it is unlikely that the budget will be presented in the new building on February 1.
The authority has earlier missed October 2022 deadline to complete the mega project. The new Parliament building is one of the major projects under the central government's central vista master plan. The budget session starting with the Presidential address on January 31 will continue till April 6 with a recess from February 14 to March 22. "The second part of the budget session may take place in the new Parliament building," the official said.
Spread in an area of 64,500 square metres, the foundation stone of the new Parliament building was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 10, 2020. Narrow seating space, obsolete communication structures, safety concerns, and inadequate workspace are some of the major reasons behind the initiative of making a new Parliament building.
"The present building was never designed to accommodate a bicameral legislature for a full-fledged democracy. The number of Lok Sabha seats has remained unaltered at 545 based on the delimitation carried out on the basis of the 1971 census. It is likely to increase substantially after 2026 as the freeze on the total number of seats is only till 2026. The seating arrangements are cramped and cumbersome, with no desks beyond the second row. The Central Hall has a seating capacity only for 440 persons. When the joint sessions are held, the problem of limited seats amplifies," another official said.
As per an estimate, the new Parliament building has 888 seats in its Lok Sabha chamber where as it will have 384 seats in the Rajya Sabha. The CPWD has also issued tenders recently for some finishing work for the new Parliament including a Rs 9.29 crore tender for developing the plot for services on Raisina Road and Red Cross Road and a Rs 24.65 crore tender for mechanized housekeeping of the new building for 36 months.
Although the project was awarded to Tata Projects for Rs 861.9 crore in 2020, the cost has already increased to at least Rs 1,200 crore due to various reasons. The impact of Covid19 as well as an increase in the GST on construction are two major reasons behind the increase in cost.
