Served with notice to vacate a Ministerial bungalow, Trinamool members and former Union Minister Saugata Roy today questioned in Lok Sabha the procedure used for evicting MPs from official bungalows but the government asserted that rules have to be followed.
Raising the issue during a debate on Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2014, Roy said the government should not act against the MPs in the name of enforcing discipline.
"In his (Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu's) hurry to act as a disciplinarian, he should not act against MPs. We are not beggars," he said.
Roy, who served as Minister of State for Urban Development in the previous UPA government, has been asked to vacate an official bungalow allotted to him as a Minister. He is now entitled for an smaller accommodation given to an MP.
Though he ceased to be a minister over two years back, the Trinamool member has been staying in the ministerial bungalow and still wants to retain it.
Responding to this, Naidu said he had "no animosity or personal vendetta" but he has to do "this painful duty" as he has to create accommodation for several ministers who are still staying in hotels with government bearing the cost.
Recalling his experience, Roy said after he resigned in September 2012 from the council of Ministers. Two months later, he received a letter from Directorate of Estates under Urban Develompent Ministry that he should vacate the bungalow he was occupying under the house General Pool as he will be allotted a house under Lok Sabha Pool.
