Ask ex-ministers to vacate govt bungalows: Congress to Guj CM

Ahmedabad: When the BJP dissolved its entire council of ministers following the resignation of the then Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani last year in September, all ministers vacated the allotted bungalows, but soon 15 former ministers were given government accommodation outside minister’s enclave at subsidized rates.

Now, the Congress has demanded that the government ask all these former ministers to vacate government bungalows, as none of their children are studying in schools or colleges in Gandhinagar.

In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Congress party spokesman Manish Doshi said that 15 former ministers including former chief minister Vijay Rupani, former Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, other former ministers like Saurabh Patel, Pradipsinh Jadeja, Ganpatsinh Vasava, Ishwar Parmar, Jayesh Radadia, were allotted ‘K’ and ‘Kh’ type of government bungalows at Rs 4,800 monthly rent in October 2021.

Then the reason cited was that their children’s education should not suffer, now when the 2021-22 academic year is over, and none of these 15 ministers’ children are either studying in schools or colleges in Gandhinagar, they should be asked to vacate government bungalows, said Doshi.

He has also sought information that the state government should make information public about which former ministers’ son/daughter were studying in which school or college in Gandhinagar during 2021-22 academic year.

The spokesman has also drawn attention of the Chief Minister that the market rent of each bungalow is Rs 42,000 per month, these former ministers’ being sitting MLA of the current assembly term are also allotted MLA quarters.

“On the other hand, there is long waiting list of government officers and employees to get allotment of government houses in Gandhinagar, which the state is not able to address, government should stop wasting public money on well-being of former ministers,” he said.

The Congress spokesman has further demanded that either market rent should be levied on former ministers or they should be asked to vacate government bungalows at the earliest.

–IANS

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