'Minor Leakage in New Parliament Building Was Detected Timely And Fixed': Govt Clarifies As Opposition Trains Guns

As Delhi was hit by heavy rains on Wednesday evening, reports of water dripping from the lobby of Parliament took over social media as Opposition MPs took on the government over the issue. The government has issued a clarification saying the “minor leakage” was detected timely and “corrective measures were taken immediately.”

A statement from the Lok Sabha Secretariat said, “There are media reports that heavy rains in Delhi on Wednesday caused water leakage into the Lobby of the newly inaugurated Parliament Building, raising concerns about the weather resilience of the structure. It has also been reported that water logging was noticed around the premises, particularly near the New Parliament’s Makar Dwar, with several videos of the water logging going viral on social media platforms. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that keeping in view the concept of Green Parliament, glass domes have been provided in several parts of the Building, including in the Lobby, so that abundant natural light could be utilised in day to day work of the Parliament. During the heavy rain on Wednesday, the adhesive material used to fix the glass domes over the Lobby of the Building was slightly displaced, causing minor leakage of water in the Lobby. The problem was, however, detected timely and corrective measures were taken immediately.”

“Thereafter, no further leakage of water has been noticed. Similarly, accumulated water opposite Makar Dwar also got drained out quickly,” the statement said.

On Wednesday evening, rains hit the national capital from 7 pm till about 11 pm. When the House was adjourned for the day, many members were left stranded because of the incessant spell of rains.

Opposition Takes a Dig at Govt

From Samajwadi Party chief and MP Akhilesh Yadav to Congress MP Manickam Tagore, several Parliamentarians attacked the government for the construction of the new Parliament building.

Akhilesh Yadav questioned the government over spending crores of rupees on the construction of the new Parliament. “The old parliament was better than this new parliament, where even the old MPs could come and meet. Why not go back to the old parliament, at least till the time the water dripping program is going on in the parliament built with billions of rupees. People are asking whether water dripping from every new roof constructed under the BJP government is a part of their well thought out design or…” Yadav said on X.

Similarly, Congress MP Tagore also trained guns at the Modi government over its spending of crores of rupees on the new parliament. “Paper leakage outside, water leakage inside. The recent water leakage in the Parliament lobby used by the President highlights urgent weather resilience issues in the new building, just a year after completion. Moving Adjournment motion on this issue in Loksabha,” Tagore posted on X.

Opposition vs Govt on New Parliament Building

The war of words between the treasury benches and the Opposition has been all along as far as the new Parliament building is concerned. The Opposition was miffed when they were not invited for the establishment of the Ashoka emblem on top of the new building. In fact, the united opposition had boycotted the inauguration of the new Parliament building, calling it a BJP sponsored event.

Apart from this, there have been multiple run-ins between both the sides, even on construction and eventually a boycott by the opposition parties of the Ram Temple inauguration in January this year.