India new parliament building Delhi
An artist's impression of India's new Parliament building in New Delhi with the existing building in the backgrond. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament on Thursday, December 10, 2020. Image Credit: ANI

New Delhi: Ater installing the historic 'Sengol' near the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday unveiled the plaque to mark the inauguration of the new Parliament building here.

After the 'puja' and 'havan', the Prime Minister received the historic 'Sengol' from the Adheenams' seers and then installed it inside the new Parliament building near the Lok Sabha Speaker's Chair. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accompanied the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister along with Birla unveiled the plaque to mark the inauguration of the new Parliament building.

The Prime Minister also felicitated the workers, who were involved in the construction and development of the new Parliament building by giving them shawls and a momentos.

PM Modi then along with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Cabinet ministers attended a 'Sarva-dharma' (all-religious) prayer ceremony at the new Parliament building.

The inaugural ceremony began with an early morning havan. Representatives of 25 political parties and many dignitaries, including chief ministers and ministers, are in attendance for the inauguration.

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Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S. Jaishankar and Jitendra Singh, chief ministers of several states and BJP president J.P. Nadda were also present on the occasion.

Twenty opposition parties, including the Congress, are boycotting the inauguration of the new four-storey Parliament House.

The present building of the Parliament was completed in 1927, and is now going to be almost 100 years old. The lack of space was being experienced in this building as per the present requirements. In both Houses, there was also a lack of convenient arrangements for the sitting of the MPs which was affecting the efficiency of the work of the Members.

Considering the above, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed resolutions urging the government to construct a new building for the Parliament. Consequently, on 10 December 2020, the foundation stone of the new building of Parliament was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The newly constructed Parliament building has been built in record time with quality construction.

Now the newly constructed building of Parliament, which will work to further enrich India's glorious democratic traditions and constitutional values, is also equipped with state-of-the-art facilities which will help the Members to perform their functions in a better way.

The new Parliament building will enable 888 members to sit in the Lok Sabha.In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha.