PM Modi said the government has taken the demand from within parliament seriously (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that he has asked government officials to look into requests by MPs' for modernising the parliament building by 2022, when the country is set to celebrate 75 years of Independence.
"There was a view in both the houses of parliament - which the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Vice President also expressed-- that the country will celebrate 75 years of freedom in 2022, so the condition of our parliament should also change," PM Modi said in a function.
"This is true that I have been listening for the past five years from MPs and friends in media that parliament building should be modernised. The government has taken the demand from within parliament seriously," he added.
"Officers are deciding if the existing building can be modernised or a new building will have to be constructed. I have requested them to complete the process as fast as possible so that it is completed when the country completes 75 years of independence," he said.
The parliament building, which houses Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, was designed by architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker during the British rule. The construction took 6 years and the building was inaugurated in 1927.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla last week told NDTV that the country could have a new, modern and technologically advanced parliament building in another three years as the nation approaches its 75th year of Independence.
The decision, he said, would be taken after consultation with all stakeholders, including parliamentarians and all those who work in the parliament complex.
"All parliamentarians have requested the Prime Minister. We want the world's most modern, high-tech parliament. The prime minister has accepted our request," Mr Birla had told NDTV.