Another says never availed accommodation
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 18: Two former Ministers including Dr Nirmal Singh and Naeem Akhter have shifted blame on the State Government especially the Estates Department for not paying their electricity arrears saying power bills of the bungalows used by the political leaders in their capacity as Ministers are borne by the Government. Another former Minister Pawan Gupta, however, claimed that he never availed the Government accommodation and threatened to file defamation suit against Power Development and Estates Departmentsfor listing outstanding electricity charges against his name.
In a statement issued here, Private Secretary to Dr Nirmal Singh, Speaker Legislative Assembly and former Deputy Chief Minister quoted rules to state that each Minister will be provided with free furnished house, the maintenance charge of which shall be borne by the State Government.
“It was responsibility of the Estates Department, which is taking care of the residence being occupied by Dr Singh and, as such, the bill payment was to be done by them. The bill wasn’t personal liability of Dr Singh,’’ he said.
Former Works and Education Minister and PDP leader Naeem Akhter said the bill is to be paid by the Government as it pertained to his tenure as the Minister.
“I was incidentally the first to quit the house after fall of Government. No question of outstanding,’’ Naeem tweeted.
Former Minister of State for Finance, Pawan Gupta, who represented Udhampur Assembly constituency in the dissolved Assembly, said he never took possession of any type of Government accommodations including MLAs hostel, both at Srinagar and Jammu, during his tenure as MLA/Minister of State for Finance.
Gupta said the Power Development and Estates Departments are required to withdraw false and frivolous allegations of power outstanding leveled against him forthwith or, otherwise, he will file a defamation case against both the Departments for giving wrong information.
Excelsior, however, is in possession of an official list released by the Power Development Department, which named all these three former Ministers as well as two others showing electricity outstanding against their names, running into lakhs.
The Excelsior story was based on the official document of the Power Development Department and it stands by its report.
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