Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has expressed confidence that the first winter session of parliament after the country completes 75 years of Independence next year, will be held in the new building of Parliament.
"I am confident that when we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our independence, the winter session will be in the new Parliament," Puri said.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the newly refurbished Janpath Hotel which will be a temporary home for the activities of IGNCA.
The minister said the old parliament building could not meet requirements in terms of space.
He said the old building, whose construction started in 1921, could meet the requirements at the time of independence and years later.
"Today, it is not sufficient. There are problems," he said, adding that the decision for the new building was taken after members of the two Houses made a request.
The minister said work for the new building was being done "in a clockwork fashion with an entire government approach".
Puri said that the Republic Day parade in 2022 will be held at refurbished Rajpath, a project under the Central Vista redevelopment plan.
"Another component, which we have undertaken is the expansion, upgradation and modernization of the Central Vista Avenue. The January 26 parade in 2022, will be at the new venue of Central Vista Avenue," he said.
The minister noted that none of the iconic buildings of the national capital will be demolished.
"Whenever you undertake a project on such an ambitious scale as the Prime Minister decided there will be voices, which is perhaps because they do not know the full facts, (they) will say that this is a project which is designed to demolish our heritage or iconic buildings. I think that not a single of those cultural iconic heritage buildings will be demolished. We are proud of our culture," he said.
The Central Vista Development project intends to revamp 86 acres of land in central Delhi which has structures such as Parliament House, North Block, South Block, Shastri Bhavan and Udyog Bhavan.
( With inputs from ANI )
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