New Delhi: After spending decades in a bungalow in Lutyen's Delhi, the BJP, which claims itself to be the world’s largest political party with more than 11 crore members, will soon be shifting to a new multi-storeyed office, five kilometres away, on the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg in the national capital.
PM Narendra Modi and parry chief Amit Shah on Thursday laid the foundation stone of the BJP's new headquarters, which is expected to be inaugurated in 2018, little before the next Lok Sabha elections.
भाजपा के नवीन केंद्रीय कार्यालय भवन निर्माण हेतु श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी द्वारा ‘भूमि पूजन’ - https://t.co/jtwD1z6SKE pic.twitter.com/Jbs1kUvJ7t
— BJP (@BJP4India) August 18, 2016
Spread over 8,000 square meters, the party's new office will be eco-friendly, hi-tech and highlysecured.
The party's new 70-room building will have nearly 70 percent green area.
PM @narendramodi lays foundation stone of new building of BJP hq in Delhi, along with party President @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/RmoST2S2Lh
— BJP LIVE (@BJPLive) August 18, 2016
If things moves as planned, the BJP's new headquarters is likely to be inaugurated next year on December 25 - Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday.
Barely 5 km from the party’s present national headquarters, at 11-Ashoka Road in Lutyens’ Delhi, which the BJP leadership feels is now inadequate for a rapidly growing organisation, the structure will have two parts.
The main part of the three-storey wing will have rooms for the party president, leaders of both Houses of Parliament and the general secretaries. The other part of the building will have seven floors.
While the party had initially prepared a plan to build a new office during Nitin Gadkari’s tenure as the party chief, the leadership had rejected the first two plans.
The third plan, prepared by a Mumbai-based architect and submitted earlier this year, got the go-ahead, as reported by The Indian Express on March 23.
Giving details of the plans, a party leader was quoted as saying by Indian Express that the two conference halls — one with capacity to seat 450 people and the other for 150 people — and eight small halls will have video-conferencing facilities to connect them with the party’s state headquarters. The building will have 10 high-speed elevators, and the cafeteria will serve cuisine from across the country, the leader said.
In keeping with the green building concept, most rooms will be designed to allow as much natural light as possible, and the terrace will be used for installation of solar panels and rain water harvesting, the leader said.
The building will have photograpahs of all past presidents of BJP, aside from a statue of Deendayal Upadhyay, the leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
“The building will reflect all parts of the country. While the exterior will have a traditional look, the green building will have all the latest facilities,” BJP general secretary Arun Singh said.
The party's new office will have a tight security cover, ensured with RF tags. After Modi took over as Prime Minister, there had been security concerns at the existing Ashoka Road office because of several adjoining buildings.
