India
Today: New Delhi: Tuesday, December 25, 2018.
On
the ground that his spouse and children would continue to stay in New Delhi and
it would be necessary to have appropriate government accommodation for them,
from the security point of few".
That
is the reason Chief Minister of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb has been allotted 6,
Talkatora Road in Delhi. 6, Talkotra Roat is a posh, type VI B Lutyen's
Bungalow that was allocated to Deb on 24 April 2018 "on the vacation
basis".
The
bungalow, like many others, is part of the Lutyen's Bungalow Zone (LBZ), a
prized collection of real estate in the central capital that is home to the
who's who of Indian politics.
The
central government plays a role in allocating these bungalows and the current
NDA government claims to have adopted a strict policy to reject requests from
politicians or officials to extend their stay.
The
government claims that the number of houses vacated has increased under the
Modi government. But is government really tough in allocating bungalows? Has it
allocated any to people considered close to the government?
To
find out how many chief ministers, who are supposed to stay in their home
states, have been given bungalow in Lutyens Delhi, India Today filed a Right to
Information (RTI) application with the Urban Development Ministry of the
Government of India. Here is the response we got from the government:
NAME:
K CHANDRASEKHAR RAO, CM, TELANGANA
Bungalow-address/type:
23, Tughlak Road/Type-VIII
Date
of allotment/regularisation: 03.06.2015
Grounds:
Final division of the Buildings and other properties of AP Bhawan. No alternate
accommodation available for CM during his stay in Delhi
NAME:
N CHANDRABABU NAIDU, CM, ANDHRA PRADESH
Bungalow-address/type:
7, Safdarjung Road/Type-VIII
Date
of allotment/regularisation: 06.04.2016
Grounds:
Final division of the Buildings and other properties of AP Bhawan. No alternate
accommodation available for CM during his stay in Delhi
NAME:
SARBANANDA SONOWAL, CM, ASSAM
Bungalow-address/type:
29, Canning Lane/Type-VIB
Date
of allotment/regularisation: 02.09.2016
Grounds:
Assam Bhawan where the Chief Minster's office and accommodation are located is
being dismantled for reconstruction and is likely to take a few years for
completion
NAME:
RAGHUBAR DAS, CM, JHARKHAND
Bungalow-address/type:
AB-13, Mathura Road/Type-VII
Date
of allotment/regularisation: 21.12.2015
Grounds:
Allotted on the ground that construction of Jharkhand Bhawan in Central Delhi
is underway
NAME:
TRIVENDRA SINGH RAWAT, CM, UTTARAKHAND
Bungalow-address/type:
AB-1, Purana Qullia Road, Type-VII
Date
of allotment/regularisation: 28.06.2017
Grounds:
On the ground that construction in Uttrakhand Bhawan is ongoing and the
department had provided Type-I/II units to staff of Uttrakahdn Bhawan on the
same Ground. Now, the allotment stands cancelled w.e.f 18.04.2017 and due to no
vacation, case has been referred to Litigation
NAME:
NITISH KUMAR, CM, BIHAR
Bungalow-address/type:
6, K Kamraj Lane, Type-VII
Date
of allotment/regularisation: 27.11.2017
Grounds:
On the ground that there is no space in the State Bhawan and the State
Government has separately requested for allotment of land of an additional
Bhawan
NAME:
BIPLAB KUMAR DEB, CM, TRIPURA
Bungalow-address/type:
6, Talkatora Road, Type-VIB
Date
of allotment/regularisation: 24.04.2018 (On Vacation Basis)
Grounds:
On the ground that his spouse and Children would continue to stay in New Delhi
and it would be necessary to have appropriate Government accommodation for
them, from the security point of view.
So
in all, seven bungalows have been allocated to different chief ministers during
the course of the current government's tenure. All of them are either of the
NDA or were close to it at the time of allocation.
Andhra
Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu was with the NDA till a few months back. Another
beneficiary, Telangana's CM K Chandrasekhar Rao has also supported Narendra
Modi government on several issues.
Notably,
not a single chief minister from any Opposition applied for a bungalow.
Interestingly,
while Nitish Kumar was allocated a bungalow on 27.11.2017 (which was after he
joined the NDA), KC Tyagi, the general secretary of Kumar's Janata Dal (United)
party says, "As Chief Minister of Bihar, he [Nitish Kumar] never sought a
Lutyen's bungalow."
"He
used to stay at Bihar Bhawan whenever he was in the capital. But one must
remember that now he is also heading Janata Dal (United) and the party needs
space for its political activities," Tyagi said.
In
response to India Today's question about the rent of these accommodations and
who pays it, the Government of India said, "All the allotments have been
made within the state quota on payment of normal licence fee and concerned
allottee are paying the rent."
We
also asked, about the numbers of chief ministers who applied for such
accommodations in the last five years and the status of their applications, the
Ministry of Urban Affairs said, "No such request is pending/rejected in
the last five years".
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