Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: Delhi’s new ministers will soon have new addresses as govt has started the process of providing official accommodation to them. A govt source said social welfare minister Ravi Indraj Singh was given bungalow number 3/8 on Shamnath Marg and Mohan Singh Bisht, the deputy speaker in the assembly, bungalow 4/8 on the same road.
Education minister Ashish Sood has been assigned a house on 2 Limaye Marg in Chanakyapuri while law minister Kapil Mishra is likely to get 2 Shamnath Marg.
Delhi govt has a few bungalows on Shamnath Marg, which are generally allotted to ministers. They are four-bedroom houses with a spacious front lawn, large living and drawing area, outhouse and staff quarters. Earlier, 33 Shamnath Marg was even considered as CM’s residence, but it is considered jinxed as some of its occupants had resigned prematurely.
The official accommodations are being provided based on availability and seniority. The official residence of chief minister Rekha Gupta is yet to be finalised.
The speaker of Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, currently lives in AB 9 Tilak Marg, which he got as leader of the opposition during the previous tenure of the House. Minister Parvesh Verma lives in a bungalow at Windsor Place, which he has received as an MP.
AAP functionaries said the leader of the opposition, Atishi, vacated AB 17 Mathura Road, where she had stayed as a minister of the previous govt, and was entitled to a bungalow as LoP.
After the 6 Flagstaff Road bungalow, which was the chief minister’s residence during Arvind Kejriwal’s tenure and became a centre of controversy following its renovation, was taken back by PWD, two bungalows that were offered to former chief minister Atishi, bungalow no. 2 on Raj Niwas Lane and bungalow no. 115 on Ansari Road in Daryaganj, are also on PWD’s list of accommodations.
Atishi’s Mathura Road bungalow, which was earlier occupied by former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, would not be on the list as it belongs to central govt.
Sources said the hunt for CM’s residence was still on, but she won’t shift to 6 Flagstaff Road, a statement reiterated by the party several times. Earlier, Pravesh Verma told TOI, “We made it clear that our CM will not live there. We can either use it as a state guest house or give it to central govt, and in return, we can get more properties from their pool. Sheesh Mehal is such that we can get 10 properties by giving it to central govt.”
Currently, PWD has the possession of the house. It carried out a detailed audit of the interiors of the residence after Kejriwal had vacated the accommodation when he resigned from the post of chief minister last year.
Mayank Rawat
