Modi govt's housing crisis: Outgoing MPs cling on to Lutyens bungalows

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide victory in the general elections may have ensured a smooth government formation, but finding homes in Lutyens Delhi for over 315 new MPs is a different challenge altogether, the NDA government is finding. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that outgoing MPs and ministers haven’t been very quick in evacuating their residences. According to an Economic Times report, the list of ministers who have not vacated their residences includes, “A Raja (2-A, Motilal Nehru Marg), Mukul Roy, SM Krishna, CP Joshi, Dayanidhi Maran, Mukul Wasnik (who occupied 36 Aurangzeb Road), Agatha Sangma, Sudip Bandopadhyaya, Sultan Ahmed, Saugata Roy and Sisir Adhikari.” The surprising addition to this list is Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal. The ET report points out that he has received four notices so far, asking for a confirmed date of evacuation. He has not replied. Kejriwal resides at C-II/23 Tilak Lane. Kejriwal is also not the only AAP leader holding on to government accommodation. AAP’s Manish Sisodia who also reportedly occupies government accommodation in Patparganj has also not heeded eviction notices, says the report. “BJP MPs Kirit Somaiya and VP Singh Bhadnor have been appointed head of the Housing Committee for LS and RS, respectively,” adds the report. Urban and Housing Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu will oversee the allocation of bungalows to union ministers. [caption id=“attachment_730445” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] MPs refuse to vacate bungalows in Lutyens Delhi. Image: Flickr[/caption] Another report in ET quotes a government official as saying outgoing ministers and MPs have been given a one-month notice period till June 26 to vacate their official houses. “Naidu will wait till then and then start the process of asking the defaulters to cooperate and move out,” the official is quoted as saying. Those who have moved out include former law and external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, who’s now back in his  ancestral home in Jamia Nagar in South Delhi—“lock, stock and his 100-odd pets that include rabbits, hamsters, cows, cats, dogs, macaws and fantails,” says the ET report. Former Defence Minister AK Antony has moved out too, while former minister Kapil Sibal told ET that he is looking for for a privately owned Lutyens bungalow and that he  wants to “shift out as soon as possible”. So what happens when MPs don’t vacate on time? The government starts charging them rent but according to the market rate. However, a report in Hindustan Times  points out that even this rent is incredibly low. The report says the “official” market rate for a 4,000-square-foot plush bungalow with manicured lawns comes to just about Rs. 1.4 lakh a month. Real estate consultants concur that this is a fraction of what market rents are really like, in the range of “Rs 18 lakh- Rs 25 lakh,” for a bungalow with lawns. As the report notes, given the low ‘official-market rent’, it’s not surprising that MPs and former ministers are refusing to vacate and just choose to pay the rent.