When it comes to grabbing a government bungalow in the heart of Delhi at rents which are one tenth and one-twentieth what fighters journalists artistes and social workers pay some have no scruples write Commi Kapoor and Rajagoplan in” The Pioneer”.
They do not flinch from giving false affidavits flouting the rules and using all sorts of connections. The result is that the pool of government accommodation built by the British for government servants is being increasingly encroached upon by influential outsiders.
The eviction squad which recently came to remove former Samajwadi Janata Party Minister Digvijay Singh had to flee when he threatened to turn his ferocious dogs on them. Kamal Choudhury a Congress MP from Punjab warned the squad that he would shoot them if they proceeded with the eviction
Janata Dal MP Roshan Lal convinced that possession is nineteenth of law simply moved into a Type VI bungalow which was under repair after a relative in the ministry tipped him off that it was vacant. It took several months to get him out.
Some influential political families assume that the bungalows they live in have become their jagirs. Jagjivan Rams family continues to stay on in his old house on Krishna Menon Marg: they are likely to succeed in eventually getting the bungalow transferred to a trust named after Babuji. Chaudhary Charan Singh’s widow Gayatri Devi too stays on in the bungalow allotted to her husband. Ex-minister K.C.Pant on finding that he is finally being dispossessed of his Tyagraj Marg bungalow has come up with the plea that the house be transferred to the Gobind Vallabh Pant Memorial Society Moated by him. Similarly Lokpati Tripathi wied to retain possession of Kamlapau Tripathhis bungalow on Janpath by asking that it house the Kamlapati Tripathi Foundation and Media Center Dinesh Singh continued staying in the same government bungalow for 20 years even though for long spans he was not entitled to it.
(The Tribune)
Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1992
