Getting ready: Furniture for new assembly

CHENNAI: The drilling machines vie with the scrapping machines to rent the air with a constant whirring noise. And when they both momentarily fall silent, one can hear, in the silence, the sound of sandpaper being rubbed against wood. On the dusty, first-floor workshop of the swanky Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) office in Guindy, an invisible clock looms large like an enemy as carpenters race against time to ready the legislators’ chairs and desks for the new Assembly hall which is scheduled for inauguration on March 13.

“About 95% of the work is over. In 10 days, the furniture will be ready,” said a carpenter overseeing the work, pointing to the large hall crowded with rows of unpolished two-seater chairs and desks. About half of these will form the treasury benches and the remaining the Opposition, but now they are all part of the carpenter’s kingdom.
The furniture, made entirely of teak wood imported from Burma, consists of 40 single chairs for ministers, 128 two-seaters for MLAs and nearly as many desks. The seats are being cushioned with lattice foam and upholstered with, according to the carpenter, “top quality, A grade” green leather.

Special attention is being paid to the making of the Speaker’s chair, which will be a replica of the historic chair in the present Assembly hall at Fort St George. It was presented by Lord Willingdon, the then Governor of Madras Presidency, and his wife Lady Willingdon, as a personal gift on March 6, 1922. A similar chair, used by the chairperson of the now-defunct legislative council, is serving as the model for the brand new ornate chair being made for the Speaker. The two chairs are at present sitting alongside in the TANSI workshop.

The state PWD department has paid Rs 9 crore to TANSI for the furniture to be used in the Assembly hall. It is a proud moment for TANSI, which is now gearing up to hold a press conference to highlight its contribution to the new Assembly building. The department may have just made the chairs but a chair, when it comes to politics, holds the highest symbolic value.

Work is also on in full swing at the site of the new Assembly complex at the Omandurar Estate. By March 13, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to inaugurate the building, the ground and the first floors of the six-storey complex will be fully ready for use.

The remaining five floors will be furnished in a phased manner.