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India’s new Parliament Building can last 150 years, seat 150% more

Published

6 years ago

2020/12/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

bY S VENKAT NARAYAN,

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: India will celebrate 75 years of its independence in 2022 with a new triangular Parliament Building in place. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid its foundation stone on December 10. The present circular Parliament House is a century-old beauty, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The new building will have a life of more than 150 years with more than 150% increase in seating capacity, the government said. While the interior of the new Lok Sabha will have the theme of peacock, the national bird, Rajya Sabha will have national flower lotus as its theme.

Besides the two Houses, the building will have a Constitution Hall that will exhibit an original Constitution and a digital form for people to read page-by-page. This will be the only portion of the building that will have no storeys.

The rest of the complex will have four floors. Each floor will have offices of ministers and committee rooms. The first floor will have dining space for member of Parliament, VVIPs and visitors.

It will also have a central lounge. Besides being earthquake proof, the new building will be eco-friendly and consume significantly less power. “The project will be completed in time in 2022 and the winter session will be held here,” says Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

The building will be earthquake-resistant, and adaptable to the most modern digital technology.

Provisions will be made in the furniture for smart displays, biometrics for ease of voting, digital language interpretation or translation systems, and recording infrastructure to produce real-time metadata and programmable microphones.

Interiors of the halls will be fitted with virtual sound simulations to set the right levels of reverberation sound and limit the echo.

It will incorporate indigenous architecture from different parts of the country, and showcase the cultural diversity.

Around 2,000 people will be directly involved in its construction, while another 9,000 will be there indirectly.

More than 200 artistes from various parts of the country will also work for the building.

The existing Parliament building will be conserved as an archaeological asset of the country.

The project of building the new Parliament Building has been given to Tata Projects Ltd.

The design has been prepared by HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd. The building is to come up on a 64,500-square-metre area. The total cost is estimated at INR9.71 billion.

The building will have six entrances: A ceremonial entrance for the President and Prime Minister; one for the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, and MPs; a ceremonial entrance in general; another entrance for MPs; and two public entrances.

The new Parliament complex will have four floors — lower ground, upper ground, first and second floors.

A total of 120 office spaces, including committee rooms, major offices of the ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Rajya Sabha secretariat, offices of the Prime Minister, some MPs and offices for staff and security personnel will be housed in the new Parliament. It will also have a reading room for MPs. It will not have a Central Hall.

The Lok Sabha chamber, which will come up on a 3,015-square-metre area, will have 888 seats instead of present 543 seats, spread over an area of 1,145 square metres.

The Rajya Sabha chamber, spread over an area of 3,220 square metres, will have 384 seats against its current strength of 245 seats on a 1,232-square-metre area.

During a joint session, the new Lok Sabha chamber will be able to accommodate 1,224 members. The MPs will be seated in two-seater benches, which can accommodate three in case of joint sessions, in a horseshoe pattern in front of the Speaker.

An adjacent building, which will come up on the site of Shram Shakti Bhavan, will have rooms for all MPs, and will be connected via an underpass.

The building will be earthquake-resistant, and adaptable to the most modern digital technology. It will incorporate indigenous architecture from different parts of the country, and showcase the cultural diversity.

Officials said the building will have the most modern security and surveillance system. “The security check will be mostly non-intrusive,” said Bimal Patel, the designer of Central Vista redevelopment project. Dholpur and red stone from Rajasthan will be largely used.

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Ranawaka accuses govt. of using JVP cadres and police to suppress political opponents

Published

6 hours ago

2026/10/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

… reminds AKD led over 560 protests during Yahapalanaya

Former Yahapalana Minister and United Republican Front (URF) leader Patali Champika Ranawaka yesterday (19) alleged that the JVP, which carried out over 560 protests during the 2015-2019 period, was now bent on preventing the Opposition from exercising its democratic right to protest.

Recalling the declaration made by the JVP at the height of the violent protest campaign in July 2022 that it would set the Parliament ablaze, the former parliamentarian lashed out at the JVP-led administration for using the police excessively to curb political opposition. Ranawaka said this while addressing the media at the former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Flower Road Office .

Commenting on the protest campaign launched by the Maha Sangha, demanding presidential pardon for General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Ven. Galagotaatte Gnanasara, the ex-Colombo District lawmaker alleged that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake used a combination of police, investigative units and JVP cadres to break up the monks’ protest. The government went to the extent of compelling the JVP/NPP-run Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) to deprive the peaceful protesters of basic toilet facilities, he alleged.

The government’s actions proved that only those with prior approval from JVP Pelawatte headquarters could launch protests in Colombo, its suburbs or in the provinces. The police have become a political tool in the hands of the JVP, the ex-Minister said. (SF)

News

Six killed as speeding bulker crashes into vehicles, shop in Akurana

Published

6 hours ago

2026/10/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

By SK Samaranayake

Six people were killed and seven others injured when a speeding bulker lorry carrying cement and concrete ploughed into several vehicles and a shop on the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road at Kurugoda, Akurana, yesterday (19).

Four of the victims, two women and two men, died on the spot in the accident which occurred around 10.30 am, according to Alawathugoda Police.

Police said the bulker, travelling at high speed from the Matale direction, collided with three three-wheelers, two motorcycles and two lorries before veering off the road and crashing into a commercial establishment.

Five of the injured were rushed to the National Hospital of Kandy, where hospital sources said two remained in critical condition.

The bodies of the four victims were placed at the Akurana Hospital, where two others, who suffered minor injuries, were also receiving treatment.

The driver of the bulker was arrested by the Alawathugoda Police Traffic Division and is to be produced before court.

Investigations are being conducted under the supervision of Central Province Senior DIG Lalith Pathinayake.

News

Prof. Peiris, summoned by CIABOC, appeals for Ven. Gnanasara’s release

Published

6 hours ago

2026/10/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

G.L. Peiris

By Shamindra Ferdinando

owledging that there had been an administrative lapse on the part of the President’s Office in 2019 when Maithripala Sirisena granted presidential pardon to Ven. Gnanasara Thera, Convener of Janathawadi Joint Opposition Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday (19) urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to rectify whatever those shortcomings and release the General Secretary of Bodu Bala Sena.

Addressing the media at the former President Ranil Wickrekmesinghe’s Flower Road Office, Prof. Peiris emphasized that it was not fair to hold Ven. Gnanasara accountable for lapse or technical fault of others at the Presidential Secretariat during President Sirisena’s tenure.

Prof. Peiris was flanked by UNP Chairman Wajira Abeywardena and United Republican Front (URF) leader Patali Champika Ranawaka.

The fresh appeal was made on behalf of Ven. Gnanasara in the wake of President Dissanayake and JVP heavyweight Anura Kumara Dissanayake ruling out fresh presidential pardon for the monk. Minister Lal Kantha declared that the government couldn’t under any circumstances meet the continuing monks’ protest demanding Ven. Gnanasara’s release. President Dissanayake dismissed repeated appeals for Ven. Gnanasara’s release when he addressed the NPP really in Badulla.

Sirisena granted presidential pardon in May 2019 even before he completed a year of his six-year term of rigorous imprisonment for contempt of court during proceedings of the media personality Prageeth Ekneligoda’s 2010 January disappearance in the Homagama Magistrate’s court.

At the onset of the regular weekly briefing, Prof. Peiris said that he would report to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) today (20) morning as requested by the commission. “The CIABOC wanted to record my statement regarding a meeting I chaired at the ministry after the conclusion of the war in 2009 pertaining to an ongoing investigation.”

Commenting further on the imprisonment of Ven. Gnanasara, the former parliamentarian said that President Sirisena intervened following a spate of requests made on behalf of BBS General Secretary by the Mahanayakes, Anunayakes and other Maha Sangha.

The Supreme Court on 10 September, 2026 rescinded the presidential pardon granted in late May 2019.