Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Mar 28: Estates Department has failed to recover rent from journalists, including owners of leading newspapers and politicians, including former Ministers, MLAs and MLCs, who are residing in the flats, quarters and Bungalows of the department in different areas of Srinagar.
The department has 1286 residential flats, quarters and Bungalows in Srinagar and they are supposed to generate around Rs 90.22 lakh rent annually but majority of the journalist and politicians are defaulters.
The official documents suggested that six journalists including owners of some leading newspapers have not paid the rent to the Estates Department for at least a decade now and they owe lakhs of rupees to the department. These six journalists owe Rs 3.5 lakh, Rs 3.16 lakhs, Rs 2.69 lakhs, Rs 2.57 lakhs, Rs 2 lakhs and Rs 1.91 lakh to the Department.
There are around 40 journalists including some veterans who owed the department Rs 2.2 lakh, Rs 1.33 lakh, Rs 1.48 lakh, Rs 1.72 lakh, Rs 2.29 lakh, Rs 1.17 lakh, Rs 1. 15 lakh, Rs 1.09 lakh, Rs 1.16 lakh, Rs 2.0 lakh, Rs 1.83 lakh, Rs 1.30 lakh, Rs 1.07 lakh and others between Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh.
There are around 50 politicians including former Ministers, MLAs, MLCs of different political parties who are the defaulters and some of them have never paid the rent to the department.
Two former MPs, one of them is sitting MLA as well, have never paid the rent to the Estates Department. They owe Rs 4.68 lakh and Rs 2.78 lakh to the department and are presently living in Govern-ment Bungalows in Tulsi Bagh Srinagar.
The other politicians including former Ministers, MLAs and MLCs are the major defaulters and owe the department Rs 1.31 lakhs, Rs 1.48 lakhs, Rs 1.42 lakhs, Rs 1.29 lakhs, Rs 1.27 lakhs, Rs 1.32 lakhs, Rs 1.49 lakhs, Rs 1.18 lakhs, Rs 2. 15 lakhs, Rs 1.44 lakhs and Rs 1.55 lakhs while others owe around one lakh each.
The Estates Department has failed to evict these defaulters and every year they issue notices to them in the month of December. These defaulters are asked to pay the rent or their allotments would be cancelled but so far no action has been taken against them.
The Estates Department has issued eviction notices to 12 tenants between 1999 to 2010 but have not evicted them so far. The eviction notices issued to the tenants are under numbers – 665 DE of 2004 dated 09/11/2004, 245 DE of 2010 dated 24/05/2010, 94 Est of 2010 dated 25/5/2010, 146 DE of 2007 dated 24/4/2007, 207 DE of 2006 dated 25/4/2006, 192 Est of 2006 dated 27/7/2006, 283 DE of 2006 dated 7/6/2006, 478 Est of 2001 dated 17/10/2001, 173 DE of 2000 dated 28/6/2000, 296 Est of 1999 dated 25/10/1999 and 301 Est of 2009 dated 23/12/2009.
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