BJP leaders fined for not vacating bungalows
JAIPUR: Two leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 per day for not vacating their official bungalows beyond the stipulated date of occupation, according to the general administration department of the state government.
The Congress-led government issued notices to the BJP’S Rajya Sabha member Kirori Lal Meena and MLA Narpat Singh Rajvi on August 23 regarding the payment of the fine from that date. They have accumulated a fine of Rs 3.5 lakh each till now.
They will also have to vacate the bungalows, which have now been allotted to Congress MLAS.
Rajvi is the son-in-law of late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, former chief minister of Rajasthan and vice-president of India.
The bungalow on 14 Civil Lines in Jaipur was allotted to Shekhawat and, after his death, to his wife. After she died in 2014, the government had asked the family to vacate the property.
However, Rajvi continued to occupy the premises saying he was paying rent to the government. The state government has now allotted the bungalow to Congress chief whip in the assembly Mahesh Sharma.
Rajvi’s son Abhimanyu said they have paid rent for the accommodation till October.
“We have requested the government to allot the house to us on grounds of seniority,” he said.
Meena’s wife Golma Devi, a former MLA, lives in the Hospital Road bungalow that was allotted to her when she was a minister in the Congress government from 2008-13.
Meena said the government did not have to send notices, they should have just told us “We have not yet got the notice for vacating the bungalow. But we will vacate the bungalow as per the state government’s direction,” he said.
Meena added that the government had offered him the bungalow in view of the security threat to him. “I constantly take up people’s causes and oppose mafias and dacoits so I am on the hit list of many. I have Y category security and this bungalow was made keeping in mind the security threat and given to me by the state government,” he said.
The s t a t e a s s e mbly had passed the Rajasthan Ministers’ Salaries (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in August requiring ex-ministers to pay Rs 10,000 per day if they continued to occupy government bungalows beyond two months after the end of their terms.
Former ministers have to pay Rs 5,000 every month after the expiry of the two-month period.