Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is learnt to have reprimanded one of her ministers for allegedly targeting a five-star hotel here after its security staff insisted on carrying out a check of his car when he had gone there for a function this past week.
State Social Welfare Minister Mangat Ram Singhal allegedly got into an argument with the security men deployed at Maurya Sheraton Hotel when they insisted on checking his car this past Wednesday.
As per norms, only vehicles of the Chief Minister and Lieutenant-Governor are exempted from security check.
Following the incident, it is learnt that inspectors of various departments landed at the hotel to check its compliance with various government rules.
They also lifted food samples and carried checking of electrical fittings, fire preparedness and implementation of labour laws.
When the Chief Minister got to know about the inspections, she summoned the Minister to her office and pulled him up for allegedly harassing the hotel.
It is learnt that some senior Congress leaders had also contacted Ms. Dikshit urging her to step in and sort out the matter.
PTI adds: When contacted, Mr. Singhal denied that he entered into any verbal duel with the security men at the hotel, but admitted that the Chief Minister had referred to reports in this regard.
“The Chief Minister has the right to give me instructions. She is my boss. I will have to follow her instructions,” he said.
However, the Minister claimed he never asked any official to conduct inspections at the hotel.
“I have been a Minister for last so many years. I know the security drill. I never sent anybody to the hotel. It must have been a regular checking by various departments as part of the preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.”
“The inspection must have been for checking the hotel's fire safety measures as well as the quality of food served to the people,” he said.
Sources in the Chief Minister's Office said she was very upset about the incident and told Mr. Singhal and officials of the department concerned not to repeat this in future.
