PRIME Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building here on Sunday morning and expressed hope that it will become a cradle of empowerment, igniting dreams and nurturing them into reality. Dressed in traditional attire, Modi walked into Parliament premises from its Gate No. 1 and was welcomed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. AmidVedic chants by priests from Karnataka’s Shringeri Math, the Prime Minister performed “Ganapati Homam” to invoke divine blessings. The Prime Minister sought blessings from high priests of various adheenams in Tamil Nadu with the holy sceptre in hand. Modi then carried the Sengol in a procession amid tunes of nadaswaram and chanting of Vedic mantras to the new Parliament building and installed it in a special enclosure on the right side of the Speaker’s chair in the Lok Sabha chamber. “As the new building of India’s Parliament is inaugurated, our hearts and minds are filled with pride, hope and promise. May this iconic building be a cradle of empowerment, igniting dreams and nurturing them into reality. May it propel our great nation to new heights of progress,” the Prime Minister tweeted later. He also shared pictures of the inaugural event held this morning. Several Union Ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Mansukh Mandaviya and Jitendra Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP President JPNadda among others were present on the occasion. Built at an estimated cost ofRs 1,200 crore, thenewParliamentbuilding can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamberand300intheRajya Sabha chamber. Even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered the Lok Sabha hall inthenewParliamentbuilding on Sunday, the chamber reverberated with the claps and chants of “Modi, Modi” by ruling NDA members as hugescreens installedinside showed his arrival at the entrance.

 

As the Prime Minister stepped into the hall,theadulationgrewlouderwithoccasional slogansof “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Shivaji Maharaj ki Jai”. The applause continued till Modi, accompanied by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh, reachedthedaisandtheceremony formally began. Modi acknowledged several dignitaries, including Supreme Court judges, former President Ram Nath Kovind and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, asheproceededtowards the dais. Before his arrival, a number of MPs and some other members of the audience in the hall, including Chief Ministers, were seen walking to Home Minister AmitShahandUttarPradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to greet them. Quite a fewofthemcouldbe seen taking selfies with the two powerful BJP leaders. Many of them also moved to greet veteran party leader MurliManoharJoshiandformer Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Shiv Sena members stood out in the crowd as several of them sported colourful turbans. The Prime Minister felicitated with shawls and souvenirs some of the workers for their key role in the construction of the new Parliament building. A multi-faith prayer was also held to mark the occasion. The Prime Minister, along with the Speaker and some other dignitaries, laterwenttothe oldParliament House.

 

The new Parliament building,constructedbyTata Projects Ltd, will also have a grand Constitution Hall to showcase India’s democraticheritage,aloungeforMPs, a library, multiple committee rooms, dining areas and ample parking space. The triangular-shaped four-storey building has a built-upareaof64,500square metres. The building has three main gates -- Gyan Dwar, Shakti Dwar, and Karma Dwar. It will have separate entrances forVIPs, MPs and visitors. The material used forthenewbuildinghasbeen acquired from various parts of the country. “Inaway, the entire country came together to construct the temple of democracy, thus reflecting the true spiritofEkBharatShreshtha Bharat,” an official said. The steel structure for the falseceilingsintheLokSabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers has been sourced from theUnionTerritoryofDaman and Diu, while the furniture inthenewbuildingwascrafted in Mumbai.

 

The stone ‘jaali’ (lattice) works dotting the building were sourced from Rajnagar in Rajasthan and Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The materials for the Ashoka Emblem were sourcedfromAurangabadin Maharashtra and Jaipur in Rajasthan, while the Ashok Chakradonningthe massive walls of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers and the exteriors of the Parliament building were from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.ThenewParliament buildingusedmanufactured sandorM-sandfromCharkhi Dadri in Haryanainthe concrete mix for the constructionactivities.M-Sandisconsidered environmentally friendlyasitismanufactured bycrushinglargehardstones or granite and not by dredging river beds. The fly ash bricks used in the construction were sourced from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, while brass works and precast trenches were from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. In the case of a joint sitting of both Houses,atotal of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber.

 

The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building, a key componentofthe ambitious Central Vista project, on December 10, 2020. The constructionwork startedin early 2021 and took a little over two years to complete. The present Parliament building was completed in 1927 andisnow 96 yearsold. Over the years, the old building was found to be inadequate for the present dayrequirements.LokSabha and Rajya Sabha had passed resolutions urging the Government to construct a newbuildingforParliament.