PUDUCHERRY: Preliminary work has commenced for laying the foundation stone for a new Legislative Assembly Complex at Thattanchavady in August by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Shortly after chairing a meeting with Minister A Namassivayam, Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar and other officials at his chamber on Monday, Speaker of Puducherry Legislative Assembly R Selvam said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister has given in principle approval for construction of the new Integrated Legislative Assembly complex , when he called on them recently in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum seeking a grant of Rs 300 crores . The Prime Minister was approached after getting green signal from Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who interacted through video conferencing .
A formal proposal after approval by the Government of Puducherry will be sent to the Ministry of Urban Development for approval and availing the funds . It will be fully funded by the Government of India . Minister Namassivayam and he would be going to Delhi next week to pursue the government proposal in this regard with the Ministry of Urban Development and the Ministry of Finance for approval, he said.
It is proposed to construct a 12 storied building to house the Legislative Assembly, offices of ministers and MLAs as well as Chief Secretariat and other government offices in the complex. The government land of 15 acres is available in Thattanchavady , out of which 14 acres will be utilised for the Integrated complex. The total built up area proposed is 6,00,000 sq.ft. The construction is planned to be completed in 15 months .
The Speaker said that the meeting was convened to take appropriate steps to expedite the preliminary work for the construction of the complex by August 15. Amit Shah has assured to come after August 15 to lay the foundation stone along with Om Birla , said Selvam.
At present, there are several government offices functioning in the proposed area for construction of the Legislative Assembly complex. It was decided to relocate the Government department offices to alternate locations during the meeting .
While the Department of Excise and Civil Supplies will be shifted to Confed building, Government press and weights and measurements will shift to a community hall at Lawspet and the Agricultural Market Committee office to Integrated Fishmarket complex at Lawspet. Similarly government corporations PASIC will get shifted to Hydrogeology premises, while PAPSCO to its own building.
Secretaries to the Government, Padma Jaiswal (Printing and Stationary) , Ashok Kumar(Revenue) Vikrant Raja (Public Works), L Kumar ( Excise Secretary) District Collector Purva Garg , Chief Engineer, Public Works Department, Sathyamoorthy. Secretary to the Legislative Assembly R Munusamy, Deputy Collector (North) M Kandasamy and Secretary to the Speaker Dhayalan were present .