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Council hall to have American carpet, Italian upholstery

Renovation at a cost of Rs 6.5 crore under way
Last Updated 26 April 2014, 19:11 IST

 When members of Legislative Council attend the legislature session in June/July this year, they will walk on a brand new American carpet, sit on soft leather bucket seats with Italian upholstery and use the American microphones to make their point.

The renovation work in the magnificent hall of the Legislative Council has been going on at a brisk pace in the last one week. The Public Works Department (PWD) is busy changing electrical wiring, mikes, carpets, and upholstery for the seats allotted for the MLCs.

The estimated cost of the renovation including painting of the walls and roof is about Rs 6.5 crore - Rs two crore for civil work and Rs 4.5 crore for electricity, according to sources in the PWD. 

Officials who are supervising the work, said the deadline given for them to complete the work by the legislature secretariat is June 15. As all the products - carpet, mikes and upholstery - have to be imported, there could be some minor delay in completing the task. Asked as to why everything has to imported, an engineer who is supervising the work, said the quality of Indian carpets are inferior compared to the one being imported from the US. Maroon colour carpet is going to be spread across 11,000 sq ft. Montana leather of Italy is the best suited for the bucket seats. There are totally 88 seats for MLCs, the engineer said.

Toilets in the ladies lounge are also being renovated and granite is being laid in many rooms adjoining the Council hall. 

Council Chairman D H Shankarmurthy said: “The renovation was much needed because the electrical wiring, mikes etc, were all 30 to 40 years old. We have eight-week time for the PWD to complete the work before the Council session in June. After two years’ of efforts, we have been able to get the PWD do the work.”

Shettar’s chamber

Another civil work that has caught the attention of visitors in Vidhana Soudha is the renovation work being taken up in the chamber allotted to former chief minister Jagadish Shettar in Vidhana Soudha in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.

There was a buzz in the corridors of Vidhana Soudha on Saturday afternoon that a wall inside the chamber (no 161 on I floor) had been demolished during the renovation work. The recent controversy surrounding Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya, who had got the wall between two rooms in Vidhana Soudha demolished in January during renovation of his chamber leading to a public outcry, added spice to Saturday’s rumours.

However, it later became clear that no wall or structure had been demolished. The walls of the chamber were being given a fresh coat of plastering and paint. Only a commode was being replaced and the makeshift partition in the ante-chamber had been removed. When contacted, DPAR sources said it was a routine renovation.

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(Published 26 April 2014, 19:11 IST)

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