Sky-blue to be used for HoR, Red for Upper House

KATHMANDU: The Legislature-Parliament Secretariat is using different colours of upholstery and carpets to refurbish the House of Representatives and the National Assembly meeting halls to give them their distinct identities.

Spokesperson of the Secretariat Dr Bharat Raj Gautam said that sky-blue upholstery and carpet would be used in the House of Representatives assembly hall and red in the National Assembly meeting hall.

"What we see in international practice is that mostly the red colour is used in the Upper House and green in the Lower House of parliament. We have selected blue - which is the symbol of peace - for the Lower House and red for the Upper House, both colours of our National Flag," said Sharma explaining the choice of colours used.

The Parliament-Secretariat spokesperson said they were carrying out the refurnishing works, prioritising the infrastructure, to make the federal parliament lawmaker and technology-friendly.

In this connection, the Secretariat is carrying out repairs and refurbishing of the main meeting hall where the Constituent Assembly meetings used by held in the past, at New Baneshwar, for the purpose of holding the meetings of the House of Representatives and joint parliament sessions.

Similarly, the Nupse Hall, which is at the east of the main hall of the International Convention Centre Building, is being refurbished for use by the National Assembly.

The estimated cost for repair and refurbishing of both the meeting halls is Rs 35 million. According to Gautam, the House of Representatives meeting hall will be ready by January 14 and that of the National Assembly will be ready by January 29.

The House of Representatives has 275 members and the National Assembly 59 members.

The Parliament Secretariat is currently busy with works that need to be carried out before the parliament session, like conducting orientation to the MPs on the workings of the federal parliament, its role, the provisions related to the parliament that are contained in the constitution, the origin of bills and the process for the passage of bills in the parliament, the relation between the Lower House and the Upper House, among other topics.

"We are in the preparation phase of the federal parliament session, and works that need to be carried out by the Secretariat before the parliament session is called are in progress," spokesperson Gautam said.

Likewise, the Parliament Secretariat is thinking of developing the parliament's library and research works with experts in an institutionalised manner in the coming days.

The Secretariat has estimated the annual cost of operating the federal parliament to be Rs 1.7 billion.