Construction of new Parliament building begins

Construction of the new Parliament building under the Government's ambitious Central Vista redevelopment plan, which received approval in January, began on January 15, 2021. As per official sources, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had asked Tata Projects to start the construction work on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti.

Several petitions were filed challenging the construction of the Central Vista project and a number of questions were raised over the permissions given for the change in land use and the statutory authorities allowing such a change. The three judge bench gave a go-ahead to the government for the construction of the central vista project on January 5, 2021 and said, "We hold that there are no infirmities in clearances given, change in land use". The Supreme Court’s permission, however, came with certain caveats and recommendations like clearance from the heritage conservation committee.

On January 11, 2021, a 14-member heritage panel gave its approval to the new Parliament building and the Central Vista redevelopment project.

The new building will stand in front of the existing Parliament house that was built nearly 94 years ago at a cost of `8.3 million at the time, which will eventually be turned into a museum. The building will house larger Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha halls, with a capacity of 384 seats and 888 seats, respectively, to accommodate an expanded Parliament after the freeze on its expansion lifts in 2026. For hosting joint sessions, the Lok Sabha hall will have an additional capacity of up to 1,272 seats.

As part of the plan, provisions will be made for digital language interpretation and recording infrastructure to produce real-time metadata, smart displays and biometrics for ease of voting with an intuitive and graphical interface, and programmable microphones that put the control of managing the house with the speaker.