India moves to new Parliament building. All you need to know

PM Narendra Modi termed the development as historic for the entire nation and congratulated all the citizens

It was a historic as well as an emotional moment today as the proceedings of Parliament moved from the old building to the new one.

An epitome of India’s journey since attaining Independence in 1947, the old Parliament building has been a witness to numerous historic decisions and legislations that has gone a long way in shaping the future of the largest democracy in the world. In other words, it truly reflects the nation’s democratic spirit.
Opened in 1927, the 96-year old Parliament building has been a strong testimony to the “Midnight Hour” speech delivered by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, following which the Constitution was adopted.

The old building — designed by British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker from now on will be “conserved, as it is an archaeological asset of the country.”
The old parliament building will be called “Samvidhan Sadan (Constitution House),” Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his last speech from the old building. He then led all MPs on foot to the new parliament building, which will be the official Indian parliament from now onwards.

“This is the first and historic session of the new Parliament building. I congratulate the parliamentarians and people of India,” PM Modi said speaking in Lok Sabha in the new building.
In May, the new Parliament building was opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Some of the key features of the new Parliament building?

The building can seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber. For a joint sitting of both houses, 1,280 MPs can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber.
Each Member of Parliament will have a 40 sq m office space in the redeveloped Shram Shakti Bhawan, which will be completed by 2024. The national archives will also move from the old building to the new.
The four-storey structure has a built-up area of 64,500 square metres. It has three main gates — Gyan Dwar, Shakti Dwar and Karma Dwar. It will have separate entrances for VIPs, MPs and visitors. A composite animal guards every door.

But how is the new building different from the old one?

Architectural differences: There is a prominent difference between the two buildings as far as their architectural origins are concerned. The existing building was designed by British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, making it a colonial-era building. The new building has been designed by Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, Planning and Management led by architect Bimal Patel.
Upgraded safety features: The new building has been built keeping in mind that New Delhi is now in Seismic Zone IV, while the old building was built when the national capital was in Seismic Zone III. Corrective steps have also been taken to eliminate the potential of a fire hazard which was there in case of the old building.
More office space: Currently, 39 ministries are housed in the Central Vista and 12 other ministries have offices outside due to a space crunch. The new building will bring all these ministries inside the central vista complex.
Modern facilities: The new structure, is equipped with with state-of-the-art modern technologies including biometrics for ease of voting, digital language interpretation or translation systems, and programmable microphones. However, this is not the case as far as the old Parliament building is concerned. The existing Parliament lacks a slew of modern facilities, some were added over the years in a relatively ad-hoc manner.
New Parliament spread across 64,500 sq m: The new Parliament building will be spread across an area of around 64,500 sq m, whereas the old one is a circular edifice that is 560 feet (170.69 metres) in diameter, its circumference one-third of a mile or 536.33 metres, and it covers an area of nearly six acres (24,281 sq m).
Last but not the least, the key differences between the new and the old Parliament Building is that the new building has the capacity to accommodate around 888 parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha and around 300 in the Rajya Sabha from the currently existing 543 and 250, respectively.

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