Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Thursday submitted a notice for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha, seeking a discussion about the apparent water leakage inside the new Parliament building amid heavy rainfall in Delhi, ANI reported.
The MP from Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar shared a video of the water leakage inside the Parliament lobby, saying that it highlighted the “urgent weather resilience issues in the new building, just a year after completion”.
In his notice for an adjournment motion, Tagore said: “I rise to address concerns following yesterday’s [Wednesday’s] heavy rains, which caused water leaks inside the Parliament lobby along the path used by our President of India when entering the new Parliament building.”
He also sought the formation of a committee comprising members from all parties to look into the “causes of the leaks, evaluate the design and materials and recommend necessary repairs”, Mint reported. “It [the committee] should establish a maintenance protocol and ensure transparency by publicly sharing their findings,” Tagore’s notice added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the new Parliament building in May 2023 amid a boycott by the Opposition.
The national capital recorded heavy rains on Wednesday evening. Waterlogging was reported in several areas, including around Parliament. At least five persons were killed in separate incidents in the National Capital Region, The Indian Express reported.
The Lok Sabha secretariat said later on Thursday that the adhesive material used to fix the glass domes over the lobby had been slightly displaced and it was later fixed, reported ANI.
“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,” the secretariat said.
It added that no further leakage of water has been noticed after the domes were fixed.
“Similarly, accumulated water opposite Makar Dwar also got drained out quickly,” it added. Makar Dwar is one of the entrances to the new parliament building where waterlogging was reported.
On Wednesday, three persons were electrocuted near Gurugram’s IFFCO Chowk metro station in the National Capital Region amid the heavy rain, The Indian Express reported. Earlier in the day, a woman and her son drowned in an open drain in East Delhi.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the Salwan weather station in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar area registered 147.5 mm rainfall from 8.30 am on Wednesday till 7.15 am on Thursday.
While the Najafgarh station recorded 113 mm rainfall during the same period, the Lodhi Road station recorded 107.5 mm. The Delhi University observatory registered 104.5 mm rainfall and Safdarjung 105.6 mm.
The weather agency issued a red alert for the national capital on Wednesday and a yellow alert for Thursday.
A red alert is issued to warn an area of “heavy to extremely heavy rain” exceeding 200 mm in 24 hours. An orange alert indicates chances of “very heavy rain” between 60 mm to 200 mm in 24 hours.
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