Former Ministers and Members of Parliament, who continue to occupy government accommodations that they are no longer entitled to, will have their belongings moved out by a team of eviction inspectors by the end of this week.
As the last date for vacating government accommodation expires on July 26, the Centre has asked all the 25 former Ministers and 128 former MPs to leave or they will have to face the embarrassment of having their belongings thrown out.
“These former Ministers and MPs who lost the elections are not entitled to government accommodation and have to move out; but there are also some who are Members of the Rajya Sabha and [they] have to move to suitable accommodation from their current addresses. The government had allowed them to stay on till June 26 as per the law; this deadline was then extended to July 26. But now the eviction teams have been given the mandate to proceed against the squatters,” said an official of the Urban Development Ministry.
Eviction teams were called in to help vacate the houses of several MPs. “Of the 130 former MPs who have vacated their houses, some had eviction teams drop in and remove their belongings. We have to comply with the Supreme Court’s orders against former Ministers and MPs illegally occupying government houses,” the UD Ministry official said.
While former Minister Chiranjeevi has to vacate his house for Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Rajya Sabha members Ravi and Rajeev Shukla have to move to suitable accommodations from their current Type VIII bungalows allotted to Ministers.
Former Minister and now Lok Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia too has to move to a smaller accommodation.
Subodh Kant Sahay, C.P. Joshi, Ashwani Kumar, Kapil Sibal, T.R. Baalu, Sachin Pilot, K.H. Muniyappa, Jaipal Reddy and Raghuvansh Prasad, among others, are on the list of those who have to vacate their premises.
“Mallikarjun Kharge has been allowed to retain his house till a decision on the Leader of Opposition is taken; Chiranjeevi too is waiting for his new house to be ready,” the UD official said.
Among the new lot only three Ministers are yet to be allotted houses. The others are in the process of moving in. “The government has been very patient so far; but these former Ministers and MPs have taken too long. The Home Minister of the country is without a [official] house for the last two months,” the UD official pointed out.
