New Delhi: The new Parliament House, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28, is set to host the upcoming monsoon session, with offices of almost all political parties present in Parliament having been identified and key departments being shifted to the new establishment. Senior officials directly involved said the development on condition of anonymity.
He said the upper ground and first floor of the new building – the prime areas for daily functioning – are ready for use. These areas house the offices of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, the Speaker and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister’s Office and rooms for senior ministers and some political parties. Officials said that the remaining areas are being finalized.
“Important departments like table office, legislative branch and information office have been asked to shift to the new building. The officers are being told to get used to their new offices as soon as possible. All this is being done keeping the upcoming session in mind,” said one of them.
The monsoon session usually runs from mid-July to August.
Another official said that the allotment of offices to political parties would be done next week. “The new Parliament building will have offices for almost all political parties represented in Parliament (in the current building, only a few parties have dedicated office space).” The offices of the Ministers will be distributed by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the offices of the parties by the President Om Birla.
In the existing building built in 1927, the Prime Minister’s Office has only two rooms on the ground floor. The SPG functions from a small room in the basement. “There is an urgent need for a bigger space for the PMO in the new building. Only a table and a chair are allotted to top officials of the PMO in the old building,” said a third official.
Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020, but the construction was delayed due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Despite the delay, the Parliament Secretariat said, the building has been built in “record time with quality construction”.
The second official said computers and other equipment were being fitted and the entry exercise was “expected to be over by June.”
HT reported on June 1 that a large number of officers would continue to work from their existing offices and only a few sections would shift to the new building. Parliamentary offices will remain on the second and third floors of the old building.
