JS Bhaban (Parliament building) undergoing renovation

Jehangir Hussain

Jehangir Hussain

The authorities have taken a project to transform the north plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban into the office complex of parliament secretariat.

The plan under implementation has been reported in detail by ‘Parliament Journal’ edited and published by journalist Asaduzzaman Samrat.

Parliament Journal, in its April-May 2022 edition wrote extensively on the Jatiya Sangsad Complex Undergoing drastic changes.

Asad said that he brought out the edition after a break of two years, due to the corona pandemic.

The journal published 19 write ups in the issue including the Future Look of the North Plaza , the death of Justice Shahabuddin, the Digital Fields of Russia,  Belarus and Bangladesh, How the Sangsad Bhaban was Transformed to the Symbol of Bangladesh and the Leader of the House broke into tears while speaking about housewives.

 It’s all in the cover story on ‘Bodley Jacchey Sangsad Complex’ ( Sangsad Complex Undergoing Changes.

Though the name of the journal is in English, the reports and write-ups are in Bangla.

Asad said he has plans to bring out English editions when funds would permit it.

In the report, ‘Jatiya Sangsad Complex Undergoing Change’ A staff Reporter of the Journal wrote, the Bangali nation is proud of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban built according the design made by world famous architect Louis Kahn.

Quoting the Public Works department (PWD), he wrote that 80 per cent of implementation of the modernisation and construction of MP Hostel and relevant other facilities was already complete.

Implementation of the project began in December 2019 and that it is scheduled to be completed in June 2023.

MP houses – 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 have already been modernised.

The prime minister’s lobby in the Sangsad Bhaban has been modernised. Now the lake can been seen from this lobby. Now the prime minister would be able to walk to the lake from the lobby.

Two nine-storied buildings are under construction close to the Khejur Bagan to provide residential accommodation to security personnel of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, PWD officials told the Journal.

Parliament Secretariat officials said that the project had been approved for the construction of a 36,000 square feet Jatiya Sangsad secretariat complex on the 52,000 square feet North Plaza.    

The North Plaza renovation would take place to create the office space for the Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat in the pattern of corporate office, said Awami League Parliamentary Party chief whip Noor E Alam Chowdhury.

The renovation would solve the acute accommodation shortage of  space faced by 1,322 personnel working in seven sections of the JS Secretariat, they said.

Already the newly built canteen of the MPs’ Club has been inaugurated.

The renovated MPs’ Club was earlier inaugurated by Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmeen Chowdhury.      

Officials said that 122 apartments would be built for the JS officers at Agaragaon.

On January 28, 1982, construction of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban was completed, reports the Journal.

And the 8th and last session of the 2nd Parliament began there on February 15, 1982, it said.

Since then, the Jtiya Sangsad Bhaban became the main centre for making laws, said the journal.

In the report, ‘the Way the JS Bhaban Became the Symbol of Bangladesh’s Identity, Shahinoor Sarkar, writes, the massive building was built on a 215-acre  area in the Sher-i-Nagar, in the capital.

The project for building the parliament complex was adopted by the Pakistan government in 1959.

Land acquisition for the parliament building began in 1961 after Loui Kahn submitted a preliminary design for the construction of the then proposed National Assembly of Pakistan in its Second Capital.

American architect Louis Kahn formally got the responsibility of construction of the building in March 1962.

And he came to Dhaka in 1963 to make the design and construction of the National Assembly Building began in 1964.  

For the design, Louis Kahn took his inspiration from the rivers, the delta, the greenery, the flat land  of Bangladesh and the houses built on higher grounds in the backdrop of  marshes.

Shortly after his arrival in Dhaka, Kahn took trips up and down the Buriganga River and drew sketches  of the riverside scenes.

In ‘50 years of the Constituent Assembly’, a Staff Rreporter narrated the story of adoption of the Constitution of the Republic by the Constituent Assembly on the midnight of December 16, 1972 .

Asadauzzaman Samrat wrote a report on how he saw the European Union’s Parliament in Brussels in 2015, during visits to Europe that took him to Belgium and the Netherlands also.

He drew an interesting picture of his tour.

In the editorial, Asad wrote, it’s high time to make the Rules of Conduct for the MPs

In ‘Digital Field of Russia, Belarus and Bangladesh’ Rumin Farhana, MP, wrote Russian aggression against Ukraine has brought to the focus Russian politics, the nature of its domination, snatching of human rights as well as suppression of the views of the opposition.

By allowing the use of its soil to invade Ukraine, Belarus became another Russia.

Both Vladimir Putin of Russia and Lukashenko of Belarus monopolises power in their countries for long.

She wrote, how Putin tied to keep in jail and later kill Russian opposition leader Alexei Navaline.

The opposition leader survived after  escaping to Germany and returned to Russia again knowing it well that he could be assassinated.

Navaline earned Putin’s enmity by exposing his corruption.

But the opposition leader became very popular among the people in Russia.

In Belarus, Sergei Tikhanovosky became the voice of the common people by exposing the corruption of the country’s oligarchy.

She wrote that in countries ruled by dictators exposure of the rulers on the digital field is nothing but a war.   

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