Parliament House Delhi, Parliament House of India, Sansad Bhavan Delhi

The Parliament House of India is like a crown on Lutyens’ Delhi. Planned by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, Sansad Bhavan or the Parliament house is the head quarters of World’s largest democracy.

It is a spectacular cluster of architectural masterpieces of the country. Tourists visiting Delhi just cannot miss this destination.

History and architecture of the Parliament house in Delhi

The estate is divided into five parts i.e. the parliament House, Reception Office building, Parliament Library building also known as Sansadiya Gyanpeeth, the Parliament House Annexe and the endless lawns. To keep it secure the parliament house is enclosed by red sand stone walls, iron grills and gates. It houses ‘House of the People’ and ‘Council of States’ i.e.

The Lok Sabha and The Rajya Sabha respectively. As mentioned before Indian Parliament house has been designed by the planner and architect of New Delhi Edwin Lutyens who was supervised by Herbert Baker.

It took them six years for building the Sansad Bhavan and it took around 0.83 million rupees to materialize the whole project. The opening ceremony was performed by Lord Irwin and foundation stone was laid by the duke of Connaught after whom Connaught Place was named.

The Parliament is a circular structure with a diameter of 170 meters; it is supported by 144 columns and covers nearly six acres of area. The building has 12 gates and Gate 1, which is the main gate, is located on the Sansad Marg.

In the centre is the central Hall connected to the chambers of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha along with library hall between these three chambers are the garden courts. Encircling the chambers is the area providing accommodation for Ministers, and secretaries.

Because the Constitution of India was framed and adopted in this hall it bears great historical significance. Also the joint sittings of both the houses and presidential address after each general election are conducted in the central Hall.

Statues and portraits in the Parliament Precincts

The parliament Houses statues of the following stalwarts of Indian History

Chandragupta Maurya
Pandit Motilal Nehru
Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Dr. B.R Ambedkar
Mahatma Gandhi
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Shri Aurobindo Ghosh
Y.B Chavan
Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant
Babu Jagjivan Ram
Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla
Smt. Indira Gandhi
Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
K. Kamaraj
Prof N.G. Ranga
Sardar Patel
Birsa Munda
Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasm
Jayaprakash Narayan
S. Satyamurti
C.N Annadurai
Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi
P. Muthuramalinga Thevar
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Mahatma Basaveshwara
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Shaheed Hemu Kalani
Ch. Devi Lal
Mahatma Jyotirao Phule

The dais in the central Hall is overlooked by a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi and the walls on either side of the dais contain portraits of significant national leaders like:

Madan Mohan Malviya
Dadabhai Naoroji
Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Lala Lajpat rai
Motilal Nehru
Sardar Vallabhai Patel
Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Jawaharlal Nehru
Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das
Rabindra Nath Tagore
Smt. Sarojini Naidu
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Subhash Chandra Bose
C. Rajagopalachari
Smt. Indira Gandhi
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia
Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Rajiv Gandhi
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Ch. Charan Singh
Morarji Desai
Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

The walls of the hall are adorned by 12 gilded emblems representing 12 provinces of the undivided India.

Places for public visit in the Parliament

The public galleries and press galleries where one can get a permit to sit and view the sessions are on the first floor of the Lok Sabha chamber. Guests of the speakers get to be seated next to the press gallery which is just above the chair of the speaker.

Rajya sabha members also get to view sessions and they get a place next to the area reserved for speaker’s guests all those diplomatic guests who want to view the session get a place to the right of the press gallery.

Another visiting place is the reception office located exactly opposite Gate 1. Visitors come here to meet ministers or to view the parliament proceedings. To enter the reception area one can use the entrance to the reception from Raisina road side.

Quick Facts

Location of the Parliament House

Parliament House Delhi is situated where Sansad Marg or the Parliament Street ends exactly north of Rajpath. It is close to India Gate and happens to be located in the very heart of Delhi. Unfortunately one is not allowed to move about in the premises without special permission.

The foreign nationals need a letter of introduction from their respective embassies to get entry in Sansad Bhavan Delhi; However with special permit, that can be obtained from the reception office (on Raisina road), one can sit for sessions in the public gallery.

How to reach

It is advisable to hire a cab or auto rickshaw to reach the Sansad Bhavan; one can even get down at Central Secretariat metro station on the Yellow line and take a walk till the Parliament house; from Rajiv Chowk to Central Secretariat the fare is Rs. 10/-.

Entry

Entry is free; one just needs an official permit to the enter the Parliament premises.

Time required & photography

Around 2 hours are sufficient for a person to see the Parliament House of India thoroughly. One requires prior permission for photography at the Parliament. Parliament house is one destination that infuses a sense of pride and respect for India and the freedom struggle of India.

Central Vista Redevelopment Project

Central Vista Redevelopment Project refers to the ongoing redevelopment to revamp the Central Vista which is located in India's central administrative area located near Raisina Hill, New Delhi.

Central Vista new common Central Secretariat to house all ministries, a new Parliament building near the present one with increased seating capacity for future expansion, new residence and office for the Vice-President and the Prime Minister near the North Block and South Block and convert some of the older structures into museums. Read more https://centralvista.gov.in/

The New Parliament House

A new triangular building to house the Parliament of India will be built beside the existing structure as the first building under the project. The new Rajya Sabha hall will have a capacity of 384 seats while the new Lok Sabha hall will have 888 seats, with capacity up to 1272 seats for hosting joint sessions. The older structure will be retained as an archeological asset of the country and will be modified for more functional spaces for parliament.

Common Central Secretariat

A set of ten doughnut-shaped buildings on four plots as Secretariat will be built on either side of Rajpath. The height of all the buildings will be less than 42 meters (height of India Gate) and they will have 7 floors. Exteriors of all buildings will be similar to surrounding Lutyens buildings and they will be connected to each other and to the Delhi Metro network by electric people-movers in underground ways and overground buses.