In gallery of Bihar’s politics, case of illegal bungalow allocation is now a hot topic. While allocating the residence to the elected representatives, former ministers (both central and state) and BPSC government officers, the arbitrary distribution is mindless, crushing of the law by the state government.
In Bihar, the allocation of bungalow is done in three ways namely, the assembly pool, the council pool and the central pool.
These three pools are further divided in 5 categories
Category A- Is for first time, elected representatives.
Category B- Is for second & third term, elected representatives.
Category C- Is for fourth & fifth term, elected representatives which includes- Chairman of committees formed in assembly.
Category D- Is for former:- deputy speaker of the assembly; state minister, parliamentary secretary and members who got elected to the assembly, six times.
Category E- E category bungalow are entitled to former- governor, chief minister, deputy chief minister, speaker of the assembly, central minister and elected representative for at least three terms.
Talking to Newsd, veteran RJD MLA from Madhepura, Prof Chandra Shekhar pointed out series of violation of the above mentioned rules. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself possess three bungalows, two at Anney Marg and one at the Circular Road (the residence which is in use after he resigned in 2014).
He further added, “A bungalow allocated in name of Sanjay Singh Gandhi, the former MLC, is now in use by close aide of CM, RCP Singh, who represents JDU in the Rajya Sabha. Point of botheration is, as per rules, there’s no entitlement to any Rajya sabha member who represents Bihar in Parliament. He could have avail his own house for residential purpose. ”
Vidyasagar Nishad, JDU MLA from Morwa, is residing in D-category bungalow, but he is entitled to reside in A category bungalow only as it is to be used by first time elected representatives. In the same manner, a two time MLA Ashok Kumar Singh, who is residing in D-category bungalow but entitlement is for only six time elected representatives. Mewalal Chaudhary, Randhir Soni both are residing in D category whereas Anant Singh since inception is residing in E category. In this manner, the list of violators is unending.
When asked about challenging this illicit allocation of bungalow by the government and taking it to the Supreme Court, the veteran MLA denied any such development by his colleague and his party. Concluding by his argument, he said, “Ye jo ho raha hai Nitish ji ke Sarkar mein, taaqat ka bemisaal durupyog hai.”
Last year, in a letter dated September 20, 2017, the Estate Officer of State’s Building Construction Department asked Tejashwi Yadav to vacate the bungalow at Desh Ratan Marg. Against this move, he filed a petition in the high court challenging the state government’s decision but earlier this month, the Patna High Court had turned down his petition. Couple of days ago, again the leader has filed an appeal against the rejection of the judgment.
