Give more funds for completion of Parliament annexe: Parliamentary panel

NEW DELHI: Noting that the construction work for the Parliament house annexe building, which was meant to decongest the main building, had been stalled due to inadequate funds, a Parliamentary panel has asked the Urban Development ministry to ensure adequate funds are provided.

In a report presented in Parliament, the standing committee on Urban Development said that to decongest the Parliament house, a new annexe - an extension of the old one - is under construction in Parliament complex.

"The committee finds the work of extension of parliament house annexe building at Parliament house, amounting of Rs 261.86 crores, has been stopped because of scarcity of adequate funds," the report said.

"Funds have not been sanctioned for completion of the work. This slow work in the Parliament House annexe reflects very badly on the performance of all the departments and on the whole of the nation ," it added.

The committee said it found that the Urban Development ministry had repeatedly asked the Finance ministry to allocate more funds.

The panel expressed anguish that the ministry had scaled down its demand from Rs 121 crore to Rs 73 crore.

"The committee, hence, strongly recommends for providing adequate budgetary allocation for completion of Parliament house annexe building at the earliest so that the work does not stop and is completed within a given time frame," the panel said.

In a separate observation, the panel said adequate funds should be allocated for proper maintanence of Parliament House Complex.