NEW DELHI: More than 50 days since taking charge as the CM, Rekha Gupta is yet to be allotted an official accommodation. Sources privy to the matter say four bungalows — two in the Civil Lines, one in Motilal Nehru Marg and another in the Daryaganj area — are being considered for allotment to the CM.
She has been working from her private residence in her Shalimar Bagh constituency in the meantime, where she has been holding public meetings. The Public Works Department, which is supposed to arrange the accommodations, has not allotted official residences to her ministers either.
Gupta holds meetings with ministers and bureaucrats at the secretariat building. A well-placed source said, “Since she has to meet around 700-800 people every day, she is facing a lot of challenges. After all, a CM cannot stay at the secretariat building from the morning till the evening.”
All her cabinet ministers, except for one, are reportedly facing a similar situation — they have to travel a long distance to reach the secretariat daily.
Sources in the government say that even after the allotment of an accommodation is finalised, it will take another 30 days to renovate the premises.
“The agency concerned is looking for a residence, but no final decision has been taken yet. They are on the lookout for an accommodation that will be suitable for the CM, as she has already made it clear that she will not move into the 6, Flag Staff Road bungalow, where Arvind Kejriwal stayed for nearly 10 years during his tenure,” sources revealed.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva has recently slammed Kejriwal, citing an RTI reply that revealed the former CM’s bungalow was maintained with an annual cost of Rs 3.69 crore between 2015 and 2022. In February this year, the Central Vigilance Commission directed the PWD of the Delhi government to conduct a detailed probe into the alleged merger of properties to expand the 6, Flagstaff Road bungalow and the expenditure incurred on its interiors.