While Cong opposes New Parliament building, its LS Speaker Meira Kumar approved project in 2012
A 2012 letter of OSD to ex-Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has surfaced, which asked Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to identify area in promiximity for similar building. The letter stated that the Speaker had given approval for the construction of new Parliament building and that she said that the issue should be given top priority.
New Delhi: In a significant development that has left Congress party embarrassed and red-faced is the ‘revelation’ that its own Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar approved the same Parliament building in 2012 which it is opposition now tooth and nail.
Congress party has been opposing the Central Vista Project and training guns at Narendra Modi government for going ahead with New Parliament Building, at a time when nation is battling severe Covid-19 crisis.
However, with surfacing of new document, its own duplicity has been exposed.
Times Now has accessed a letter of an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the ex-Lok Sabha Speaker sent to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The letter stated that the Speaker has given approval for the construction of new Parliament building and that she said that the issue should be given top priority.
The letter was shot by OSD to secretary of Urban Development Ministry on July 13, 2012, the channel reported.
The letter stated, “The Parliament building was constructed in the 1920s and commissioned in 1927. It has been declared Heritage Grade 1 building. Over the decades on account of ageing and over use the Parliament House building has started showing the signs of distress at various places. The present sitting capacity of Lok sabha and Rajya Sabha is likely to go up after 2026. The seat in Lok Sabha may go up before 2026 also if Women’s Reservation Bill providing for augmented strength is passed by the Parliament, In such a scenario it will be necessary to have a new Lok sabha chamber with larger sitting capacity.”
The letter had also sought instructions to Central Public Works Department (CPWD) from the Urban Development Ministry for identifying an area in the proximity to the Parliament House Complex for the same, so that constrtuction of new Parliament building could begin.
Ground-breaking ceremony of New Parliament building & Cong duplicity
Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the ground-breaking ceremony of New Parliament Building, which the Congress party boycotted. Rather, it has been vociferously attacking the Modi govt over the issue.
“Dear PM, Parliament is not mortar and stones. It envisions Democracy. It imbibes Constitution. It is Economic-Political-Social Equality. It is Compassion and Camaraderie. It is the aspirations of 130 crore Indians. What would a building built upon trampling of these values represent?” Congress spokesperson tweeted taking a dig at the occasion.
Dear PM,
Parliament is not mortar & stones,
It envisions Democracy,
It imbibes Constitution,
It is Economic-Political-Social Equality,
It is Compassion & Camaraderie,
It is aspirations of 130 Cr Indians.What would a building built upon trampling of these values represent? pic.twitter.com/Gp8hGj8lIK
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) December 10, 2020
Another Congress leader and former union finance minister P Chidambaram said, “The foundation for a new Parliament building was laid on the ruins of a liberal democracy.”