Speaker for bigger, hi-tech Parliament

New Delhi: India may get a new Parliament building with latest technological facilities as a proposal has been mooted by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who has said the existing 88-year-old structure is showing signs of “distress” and will no longer be able to meet the growing demand for space.

She has written to Urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu asking him to consider initiating action for construction of a new Parliament building and suggested two options for the alternative site, one within the Parliament complex itself and another across the Rajpath, sources said on Sunday.

The Speaker has said that the number of seats in Lok Sabha is likely to go up after 2026 “in accordance with the provisions of the explanation to clause (3) Article 81 of the Consti-tution” while the present seating capacity of the House is 550 without any scope for increasing it.

In her letter, Ms Mahajan has said, “On account of ageing of the Parliament House building and expansion in activities, staff etc, the building has shown signs of distress and over utilisation.” She argued that when the present structure was commissioned in 1927, the number of staff, security personnel, media visitors and parliamentary activities were limited but over the years, the parliamentary activities and number of people working there and visitors have increased manifold.

With the expanding scope of Parliamentary oversight functions, increase in number of committees and security requirements, the demand for space has increased several times, the Speaker has underlined.

There are also plans, keeping in view the technological advancements, to equip MPs with latest gadgets to enable them to make the best possible use of technological tools available and to make Parliament paperless, she said.