Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently unveiled the bronze-made national emblem cast on the roof of the new parliament building. The emblem had been unveiled following a puja by the PM in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla; Rajya Sabha, Deputy Chairman Harivansh; Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi; and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Here is a detailed report on SURFACES REPORTER (SR).
Weighing 9,500 kg, the cast has been installed at the top of the central foyer of the new building. The emblem stands tall at 6.5 m with the help of a 6,500 kg supporting steel structure. The bronze structure, inspired by the Lion Capital at Sarnath that had been built by Ashoka back in the third century BC, has been designed by artist Sunil Deore. It took him nearly five months to prepare a clay model at his Aurangabad studio, which was then cleared by the panel. Additionally, more than 100 artisans across India have worked on its design in the past few months.
Reportedly, the concept sketch and the process of casting the bronze national emblem on the roof of the new parliament building has gone through eight stages of groundwork, beginning with clay modeling, computer graphics to the final bronze casting and polishing. Based on the computer graphic, a clay model had been created. With the help of the lost-wax process, the wax mould and bronze cast had been designed.
Being the highlight of the government’s ambitious Central Vista project, the new parliament building project is being built by Tata Projects at the cost of Rs 1,250 crore. Spread across 13 acre, the four-storey building is located very close to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The new parliament building is expected to have six granite statues of important personalities, four galleries each for the two houses of the parliament, three ceremonial foyers, three Indian galleries and a constitutional gallery. Each wall of the building will have a theme and display a mix of portraits, illustrative arts, installations, sculptures and decorative art with frame storylines. The project is expected to be completed by October.
Image credits: Top: News18; Above ANI