Economic
Times: New Delhi: Tuesday, 19 August 2014.
Lots of
lawmakers seem to revel in being lawbreakers in Lutyens' Delhi. Building an
extra room here, breaking down a wall there, a bigger kitchen, an office, even
a badminton court illegal alterations to the heritage buildings seem to be as
rampant as those in a DDA colony based on the answers to a Right to Information
(RTI) application filed by ET. Everything is done without the approval of the
Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which is the only agency authorised to
make such changes.
The rules
don't allow any alteration or construction in government bungalows in the
Lutyens Bungalow Zone, but the documents show unauthorised changes by at least
230 members of parliament in the last 10 years. The list of MPs includes former
and current ministers such as Nitin Gadkari, Kalraj Mishra, Yashwant Sinha and
Ram Vilas Paswan besides Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Suresh Kalmadi and others.
In as many as 150 cases, the CPWD is yet to remove the illegal structures.
Construction on area ranging from 400 to 5,000 square feet and more has been
left standing for several years, as per the RTI reply.
Bungalows
meant for ministers have a plot size of 8,250 square feet, typically including
eight bedrooms, four rooms for domestic staff and two garages. The bungalows
have lawns at the front and back as well.
At bungalow
No. 13 on Teen Murti lane, which was the former residence of road transport and
highways minister Nitin Gadkari, the unauthorised construction includes a room
in front, one in the backyard and one near the servants' quarters, measuring a
total 1,000 square feet. There's an additional room and an office on 1,173
square feet at the 10, Talkatora Road bungalow of former minister and BJP
leader Shatrughan Sinha. Former UPA minister Kalmadi was sent a notice for
constructing an office, room and shed. The total covered area measures about
3,300 square feet. The CPWD also objected to a badminton court built by micro,
small and medium enterprises minister Kalraj Mishra in 2006. That residence
also has an unauthorised construction of temporary sheds and toilets, covering
about 3,000 square feet. The bungalow of consumer affairs, food and public
distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan has two unauthorised air-conditioned
cabins.
The CPWD
issued a notice to Deepender Hooda, son of Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda,
for constructing rooms, toilets and sheds covering 6,113 square feet area at
his official bungalow on 9, Pandit Pant Marg without permission Unauthorised
alterations that included the removal of windows in the entrance hall, breaking
down walls separating bedrooms and toilets besides removing the front portion
of the main hall were detected at the official residence of Rajya Sabha member
Ajay Sancheti. The alterations were reported in April.
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