Times of India: Shimla: Friday,
April 25, 2014.
RTI activist
Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, who last year had obtained information on MPs
defaulting in payment of dues to Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development
Corporation (HPTDC), has now written a letter to Union parliamentary affairs
minister Kamal Nath, seeking his intervention for recovery of dues.
In his letter
dated April 22, Bhattacharya has stated that an RTI response from public
information officer-cum-accounts officer of HPTDC had revealed that many
sitting and former MPs, including Virender Kashyap, Shanta Kumar, Rajan
Sushant, Pratibha Singh and Chander Kumar, owed money to the corporation. Some
of these defaulters are contesting elections from the state this time again, he
has written.
"Your
office is requested to take up the issue with honourable MPs and ex-MPs and
help the corporation recover payments," the letter added.
An RTI query
last year had revealed that many politicians belonging to Congress and BJP have
not cleared their dues amounting to Rs 3.57 lakh for the last many years, while
a couple of leaders made payments only after the RTI application was filed.
"Among
the list of defaulters are Mani Shankar Ayyar, who has to pay Rs 11,603 since
1995, Virender Kashyap who has to pay Rs 8,366 since 2002, Shanta Kumar owes Rs
4,800 since 2008, Rajan Sushant has to pay Rs 53,200 since 2009, Pratibha Singh
has to pay Rs 11,205 since 2005, Chander Kumar has to pay Rs 31,150 since 2005,
Suresh Bahrdwaj has to pay Rs 6,230 since 2003, Bimla Kashyap has to pay Rs
57,056 since 2010-11 while Rs 7,280 is pending against late Sat Mahajan since
1996," said Bhattacharya, quoting RTI information procured last year.
In response
to his application dated June 14, 2013, different PIOs had revealed that 15
leaders of Congress and BJP have failed to make payment to HPTDC since the last
many years.
A senior
official of HPTDC said that outstanding payment is a technical issue and in
case of MPs, their dues are disputed and are being resolved. "Before
allotment of government accommodation, MPs stay in Himachal Bhawan in Delhi.
While general administration department (GAD) of Himachal has fixed its own
slab, Lok Sabha has fixed its own rate resulting in a dispute over the amount
to be recovered. We are now trying to resolve the issue by taking it up with
Lok Sabha administration," he said.
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