287 UP lawmakers have additional gunners: Govt
LUCKNOW: As many as 57% of Uttar Pradesh lawmakers (287 MLAs and MLCs) have got additional gunners sanctioned for their 24x7 personal security against the normal entitlement of one armed guard each, according to the state government’s written reply to a starred question in the Vidhan Parishad here on Monday.
Former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh and MLA Aman Mani Tripathi have four and three gunners respectively, according to the reply to the question by Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Anand Bhadoriya.As per rules, one gunner each is provided to MLAs and MLCs free of cost but one more free of cost gunner may be made available to a member if the demand for the same is found to be justified, the government explained in its reply.However, a member has to pay 25% of the cost if he opts for a third additional gunner, 75% in case of a fourth gunner and 100% in case of five and more guards.
Ex-legislators are provided a gunner if their demand for one is found to be justified provided they are ready to bear 10% of the cost though the government can also bear the entire cost if recommended by a high-level committee. A perusal of the list provided by the government, in support of its reply shows, that around 70 of the 287 legislators enjoying the facility of additional gunners belong to the opposition, including the SP, the BSP, the Congress and also independents. The rest belong to the ruling party.
Around a dozen lawmakers have been provided more than one additional gunner. Besides Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya (4) and Aman Mani Tripathi (3),they include Apna Dal’s Amar Singh Chaudhary (2) and BJP’s Dalveer Singh (4).Among others are BJP’s Neeraj Vora (2), Dheerendra Bahadur Singh (2), Suresh Rahi (2), Shashank Trivedi (2),SP’s Manjo Kumar Pandey (03), and BSP’s Anil Kumar Singh (2). The written reply says that a total of 125 former legislators have been provided one gunner each. Of them 47 belong to the BJP, 53 are of SP, 16 of the BSP, four each of the Congress and the RLD, respectively and one has been categorised as ‘other’.