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    Ajit Singh's bid for a memorial in Lutyens after losing bungalow shows poiticians love for official houses

    Synopsis

    Before Ajit Singh started pushing for a memorial at 12, Tughlak Road in his late father's name, Chandrasekhar's son tried the same after losing election.

    TNN
    (This story originally appeared in on Sep 20, 2014)
    NEW DELHI: Politicians seem to have unending love for big government bungalows in Lutyens' Delhi which they occupy at highly subsidized rent with a maximum cap of about Rs 3,500 per month and more so when these sprawling accommodations get the tag of a "trust".

    Before Ajit Singh started pushing for a memorial at 12, Tughlak Road in his late father and former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh's name, son of Chandrasekhar, another late former PM, tried the same after losing election from the family bastion of Balia in Uttar Pradesh.

    Sources in urban development ministry said Neeraj Sekhar, who lost the 2014 election on a Samajwadi Party ticket, had written to the ministry to allot the 3, South Avenue house to a trust named after his father. "But it was turned down and there was no further communication. Power supply to that bungalow has also been snapped and we have learnt that the bungalow will be vacated soon," an official said.
    Image article boday



    TOI has learnt that former UPA minister Jitender Singh also tried to transfer his bungalow from the general pool to Rajya Sabha pool, which could help him to retain the house once it was allotted to a Congress member in the Upper House. But to no avail.

    Meanwhile, there are reports of senior Congress leader and former minister Buta Singh and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah also trying to retain their present bungalows citing security reasons. Even ministry of home affairs (MHA) has referred their cases to the UD ministry. Officials said since Singh doesn't have SPG security cover, his case cannot be processed while Abdullah's case is still under MHA's consideration.

    On the two cases that Ajit Singh has cited to retain his house, officials said while senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha vacated his bungalow on August 4, Shahnawaz Hussain's bungalow has been vacated and allotted to a BJP MP. "How can it be an issue, if the former BJP MP is staying there as a guest of the new allottee?" asked an official on condition of anonymity.

    Admitting that allotment of bungalows to trusts, NGOs and other organizations had been largely based on political considerations in the past, ministry sources said at present there are over 40 government properties that have been given to such bodies. "The licence fee that they need to pay is miniscule and these are leased out for a certain period. But government has the right to cancel the lease at any time," an official said.

    Records show that most of the government bungalows were converted into memorials or allotted to trusts during the Congress rule and the go-ahead for two of them -named after Kanshi Ram and Babu Jagjivan Ram — came during UPA-II.


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