Agencies/New Delhi
New Delhi authorities cut power and water supplies to homes of former ministers and lawmakers, including the last federal civil aviation minister, after they ignored repeated eviction warnings, reports said yesterday.
Congress Party ally and former civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, along with ex-Congress lawmakers like cricketer-turned-politician Mohamed Azharuddin, refused to leave despite a crushing election defeat at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in May.
“Power and water supplies have been disconnected to a total 30 houses occupied by former ministers and ex-MPs who are yet to vacate their government accommodations despite being given adequate time to do so,” an unidentified New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) senior official was quoted by the Times of India as saying.
While Ajit Singh admitted that he had no right to occupy the official home, he argued that many BJP ministers and lawmakers lived in the plush Lutyens’ whitewashed bungalows during the two-term rule of the Congress-led coalition government.
“I am not entitled to this house anymore since I am not an MP. They (NDMC)...asked me to vacate. I told them I am packing,” 75-year-old Singh told reporters on Saturday after authorities cut water and electricity at his central Delhi home.
According to authorities, ministers and MPs must vacate their official accommodation within a month of the appointment of a new government.
The NDMC official added that they began disconnecting power and water supplies only after occupants failed to meet a September 4 deadline to pack up and leave.
Sources in the NDMC said the decision was taken since ministers of the new government were still working out of their respective state guesthouses in the absence of official accommodation.
According to the NDMC, a total of 30 bungalows need to be vacated to accommodate new MPs and other government officials.
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday reviewed the allotment of bungalows to cabinet ministers still staying at the state guesthouses.
