Eviction heat on overstaying ex-ministers

On Friday, officials of the Directorate of Estates, which allots accommodations to ministers and Parliamentarians, removed all belongings of Republican Party of India Chief Ramdas Athawale from his residence at Lodi Estate.

Athawale, an ex-MP from Maharashtra, was not in the house when the eviction operation took place.

Political vendetta

Athawale condemned the action as a “political vendetta” of the Congress, for joining the Third Front ahead of next month’s Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

However, senior officials of the Directorate told Deccan Herald that Athawale had been sent several notices to vacate the house after his allotment was cancelled on June 18.
He was given time till September 3 to evict the premises, they pointed out. The eviction was conducted after Athawale did not heed to the notices, they said.

Former Lok Sabha member of the Bharatiya Janata Party Nand Kumar Sai was also evicted from his bungalow in New Delhi’s South Avenue on Thursday.

Sai was evicted for overstaying in his official residence. He lost the last general elections and has been overstaying since then.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in August but had not given a new application to continue living in the bungalow.

Despite not holding any ministerial positions, 17 ex-ministers are still staying in posh bungalows in the national capital, including Jagdish Tytler, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shankar Singh Vaghela, Renuka Chowdhury   and Ram Vilas Paswan.

Due to overstaying by the ex-MPs, the Directorate of Estates could allot houses only to 39 ministers of the current UPA regime while 11 ministers are still waiting for government accommodation.