Water, power to defiant MPs cut

Coming down with a heavy hand against former Members of Parliament who were not vacating the bungalows allotted to them, the Centre has got their water and power supply disconnected to ensure compliance.

In order to get these defiant MPs to vacate, the Directorate of Estates under the Union Ministry of Urban Development had issued orders to the New Delhi Municipal Council to disconnect water and power supply to 27 premises under it. Similarly, the Central Public Works Department was told to act against three premises.

Talking to

The Hindu , NDMC chairperson Jalaj Shrivastava said the action has been taken against 30 former MPs of Lok Sabha who had been issued notices by the Ministry. “After the expiry of the concession period, the Ministry issued us an order to disconnect the water and power supply.”

Mr. Shrivastava, however, qualified his statement by saying that “we don’t know how many of these MPs have already vacated their premises.”

He said sometimes the MPs also write to the authorities saying they are vacating the premises and the power and water should be cut so that they are not billed for the intervening period till someone else occupies the premises. “Whoever comes next does not want to pay any arrears, which remain a responsibility of the outgoing MP.”

The NDMC has also submitted its action taken report to the Lok Sabha Housing Committee.

Among the MPs whose properties have been acted include former Union Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh at whose 12 Tughlaq Lane residence his supporters had physically stopped a combined team of Directorate of Estates and Delhi police from taking possession of the premises. Other well-known MPs whose premises have been acted against are former Minister of State Jitendra Singh, cricketer-turned-politician Mohammad Azharuddin and former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar’s son Neeraj Shekhar of Samajwadi Party.