New Delhi : Three years after the new Parliament building was inaugurated, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has this week asked the Central Public Works Department to consider adding a porch over Makar Dwar—the entrance used by most MPs is currently uncovered—according to sources aware of the developments.
Sources said the Central Public Works Department is looking at the feasibility of adding a porch over the entrance, which faces the covered entrance of the old Parliament building. While three of the entrances to the new building, including those used exclusively by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan, have porches, three others, including Makar Dwar, do not.
MPs arriving and leaving Parliament House wait for their vehicles out in the open, susceptible to rain during the ongoing Monsoon Session and the sunshine during summer. “The Speaker has instructed the Central Public Works Department to conduct a feasibility study to see if a porch can be constructed at Makar Dwar in view of the climatic conditions,” a source with knowledge of the development said.
It is outside Makar Dwar that ministers and MPs, across party lines, interact with the media when Parliament is in session. During the ongoing Monsoon Session, MPs can be seen being escorted by security personnel holding umbrellas to their cars or making a dash to their vehicles without umbrellas in the rain.
The new Parliament building, designed by Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, Planning and Management, was inaugurated by PM Modi in May 2023, and the proceedings shifted from the old building to the new one in September that year. It was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore by Tata Projects Ltd.
