Is the Parliament building safe from earthquakes, terrorist attacks or for that matter any natural calamity? Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan has called for a meeting of the Estimates Committee of the Lok Sabha today and with her at the meeting to guide her, will be Congress MP Professor  KV Thomas.


Earlier today, Secretary General Anup Mishra walked around the Parliament building probably absorbing the mammoth task at hand.


Mahajan's meeting comes in the wake of alarming report by IIT Roorke about whether the Parliament is structurally safe. The report said that it cannot withstand an earthquake of a greater magnitude than 6.5 on the Richter scale.


Former speaker Meira Kumar had directed the then secretary general T K Viswanathan to commission the study by IIT. The Estimate Committee of Lok Sabha will now take stock of the reports.


The question doing the rounds is whether the Modi government will convert the existing Parliament building as a monument and build a  new Parliament with modern facilities in say 10 years? Watch this space.


We understand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has plans to convene an meeting of 50 countries which use solar energy to discuss and resolve solar strategy. The External Affairs Ministry is gearing up for the meeting, but the Union Cabinet is likely to take a final call in the first week of August.