BHUBANESWAR: Speaker of the Odisha Assembly Surya Narayan Patro on Monday asked former MLAs to immediately vacate their official quarters. Those who have not vacated their Government quarters include former Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Sananda Marandi.
The Speaker took the decision at a high-level meeting where he was informed that about two dozen former legislators have not vacated the Government quarters allotted to them despite several notices issued by the General Administration department and the Assembly.
“The former MLAs were requested to vacate the quarters immediately so that newly elected members could be given accommodation in the State Capital,” Patro said. The former MLAs, who do not vacate the quarters after several notices, may face disconnection of electricity and water supply to their premises, he warned.
Four of the former MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha in the last elections. But, they have not vacated their quarters here. BJP state president Basant Panda who has been elected as an MP, Congress leader Bhujabal Majhi, former BJP MLA Bibhuti Bhusan Harichandan, former ministers Bijoyshree Routray, Damodar Rout, Debasis Nayak, Praveen Kumar Bhanjadeo, Pushpendra Singhdeo, Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Golak Bihari Nayak and Sanjay Kumar Dasburma (all BJD) are among the former legislators still in possession of official accommodation.
BJD MP Mahesh Sahu and BJP MP Nitesh Gangdeb are also yet to vacate their quarters here. Others in the list are Dhaneswar Majhi, Jugal Kishore Patnaik, Kishore Tarai, former government chief whip Prabhat Kumar Tripathy and Rabi Narayan Nayak.
Bhujabal Majhi and Rabi Narayan Nayak have more than one quarter in their names. Meanwhile, former MLA Jhina Hikaka, who has been occupying Government quarters, said he will not vacate the facility as he got it under special circumstances. Hikaka was provided the quarters in Unit-I area of the city with security following his abduction by Maoists in 2012 when he was Laxmipur MLA in Koraput district.
Meanwhile, Patro has constituted a committee headed by Secretary, Works department for repair of the inner walls of the Assembly and its lobby. Officials from finance, electronics and information technology departments will be members of the committee. Chief engineer (buildings) will be the convenor of the panel. He ha asked the Works department to prepare a detailed project report in this regard.