NEW DELHI: As many as five former Union ministers, who are still occupying bungalows above their entitlement, have communicated their willingness to vacate government accommodation in the national capital, Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry officials said on Friday.
They said even former Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who was served with an eviction notice by the Directorate of Estates recently, has also conveyed that he would be vacating the 27, Safdarjung Road bungalow.
According to officials, Pokhriyal's bungalow has been allotted to Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Meanwhile, some other former ministers, Prakash Javadekar and Harsh Vardhan, have already communicated to the HUA ministry that they will be vacating their respective official bungalows.
"They will soon shift to their entitled category (type VII bungalow)," an official told PTI.
The official said that there are currently around five type VIII bungalows being used by former ministers, adding that all of them have expressed their willingness to vacate the same.
On Friday, the Union housing and urban affairs ministry completed the process of Chirag Paswan from the 12, Janpath bungalow allotted to his late father Ram Vilas Paswan in 1990.
Talking about accommodation rules for the ministers and MPs, another senior official in the Union housing and urban affairs ministry said that type VIII bungalows are allotted to Union ministers and senior members of the judiciary.
Ex ministers are usually entitled to type VII accommodation.
"Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have also their housing committees which allot government accommodation to their members from their own quota. There are also some type VIII bungalows with them (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha housing committees), but MPs are usually given bungalows lesser than the type VIII category," official pointed out.
He said that there is a Cabinet committee on accommodation that has power to allot a government bungalow to a "private person" on security ground and other reasons.
In July 2020, senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had been asked by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to vacate her government accommodation after the Centre had withdrawn SPG security cover.
"Those who are Special Protection Group (SPG) protectees are entitled to government bungalows. Once their such security cover is withdrawn, they have to surrender their accommodation facility," official said.