Centre gets a Rs. 25-cr. bill on MPs’ hotel stay

‘Centre will foot the bills of only genuine cases, others will have to pay out of their pockets’

The government has run up a bill of Rs. 25 crore on the hotel stay of Lok Sabha members in the capital since the May 2014 general elections. Of the 350 MPs given temporary accommodation in ITDC hotels, over 50 continue to stay there despite being allotted other accommodation.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has been spending close to Rs. 7.5 lakh a day on hotel bills, prompting the Urban Development Ministry to write to the Finance Ministry to part with more funds to pay off the dues.

On Wednesday,

The Hindu had reported that the Lok Sabha Secretariat has asked MPs who continue to live in hotels to pay their bills on their own or move to the accommodation allocated to them.

Since the Urban Development Ministry is short of funds, the Finance Ministry has been asked to allocate more money under non-Plan expenditure. “The Secretariat had earlier asked the MPs to move to the government accommodation and recently a letter seeking an explanation from them was sent. The Centre has made it clear that the bills will be paid only for those MPs who have a genuine reason to live out of the hotels, while others have been asked to pay out of their pockets,” a senior official said.

Another official said the MPs checked into hotels only when they were in the capital during Parliament sessions or for official work, but the rooms remained booked in their names.

“It is for this reason [to avoid paying hotel bills] that the NDA government relentlessly began pursuing overstaying former MPs and Ministers to vacate the government accommodation so that the fresh lot has a place to stay,” the official said.

On Thursday, former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler vacated the 3 Gurdwara Rakabganj house where he had been living in for six years.

Mr. Tytler was allotted the house in his capacity as a Lok Sabha member in 2009 and had managed to retain it after getting the nod from the UPA government on account of being a “high risk protectee.”