BACKGROUND
It's not a sudden act being performed by the Central Government. Actually, a joint parliament committee (JPC) was set up in 2009 by Meira Kumar, the then Speaker of Lok Sabha. The ex-officio members included then deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha K. Rahman Khan, then home minister P. Chidambaram and then urban development minister Jaipal Reddy. The Lok Sabha members included L.K. Advani, Mamata Banerjee, Ram Sundar Das, Baliram, Pranab Mukherjee and Revati Raman Singh, and special invitee Pavan Kuman Bansal, then minister for water resources and parliamentary affairs.
The JPC was set up to discuss, plan and oversee the “maintenance of heritage character and development of parliament house complex”.
The committee was also set up to decide the budget required and the creation of the special corpus for the purpose.
During her term as Speaker, Meira Kumar also created a new “Heritage Management Plan to assist the two committees. This branch reviews all Central Public Works Department (CPWD) proposals for maintenance, renovation and upgrade of the parliament house prior to the work being carried out. In 2013, the JPC had reportedly decided to ask CPWD to hire consultants “to prepare a masterplan which would ensure that only “core activity” is carried out in the 85-year-old building.” In 2014, after the formation of a new government, the JPC was reconstituted by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in consultation with the chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The members of this JPC included prominent Lok Sabha members such as L.K. Advani, Sudip Bhadopadhyay, Thambi Durai, Anant Geete, Mallikarjun Kharge and Bhartruhari Mahtab. The Rajya Sabha members included Rahman Khan, C.P. Thakur and Sharad Yadav.
OLD PARLIAMENT
• The parliament, a circular edifice, 560 feet in diameter.
• Designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert
• Started on February 12, 1921 and the construction took for six years at the cost of 83 lakh.
• The opening ceremony was performed on January 18, 1927, by the then Governor-General of India, Lord Irwin.
NEW PARLIAMENT
• The new parliament building, estimated to be spread over 64,500 square metres, will be earthquake-resistant.
• There will be a basement, ground, first and second floors in the new building and its height will be same as the old building so that both are in symmetry.
• The Lok Sabha chamber will have a seating capacity for 888 members, while Rajya Sabha will have 384 seats for the members.
• The estimated cost rs971 crore.
• Included a new Central Secretariat, the offices, and the residence of the Vice – President and the Prime Minister.
WAY FORWARD
• The construction of a new parliament is a good step taken by the Government, but does it really the very time to do so during the COVID-19 Pandemic? Think.
• Urban Development Minister Hardeep Puri asserted that this is the dream of the PM, does the dream of the PM is more important than the lives of 130 crore? Think again.
• Does having a new parliament will help or improve the working of the parliamentary system in India?
• What is the point of having a new parliament where there are severe cash crunch. Do not you think that government should utilize those funds to procure ventilators and liquidate cash to jobless migrant laborers stuck in various parts of the country.
• The short time frames within which this project was conceived may come at huge social, environmental and economic costs.
• The construction of new parliament will benefit 2000 people directly and 9000 people indirectly by providing employment.
• Between 1940 and 1941, the House of Commons destroyed by German bombs, A true conservative, Churchill wanted the House to be “restored in all essentials to its old form, convenience and dignity”. He went on to add, “I am, therefore, proposing in the name of His Majesty’s Government that we decide to rebuild the House of Commons on its old foundations, which are intact, and in principle within its old dimensions, and that we utilise so far as possible its shattered walls. That is also the most cheap and expeditious method we could pursue to provide ourselves with a habitation.” Now compare the British Government’s attitude towards its parliament with the India.
• There is a need to renovate the parliament not to rebuild it.
• Government should utilize those funds to increase the consumption expenditure because it has been below that of the corresponding period in the previous year.
Agreed, but there is no right time to make a decision when its refined result will be the result of its being right or wrong.It will take time
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. But my article is not an absolute article. I wrote it as per my humble opinion and according to the happenings. My opinion will change if there is any changes taken place.
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