Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 22: Legislative Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta today directed the Government to submit a report about accommodation provided to Legislators in the House.
The direction came after members from the ruling PDP-BJP Coalition alleged that they have not been provided proper accommodation in summer capital Srinagar and winter capital Jammu.
The issue was raised by Mohammad Ashraf Mir when he was participating in the discussion on allotment of grants to the departments held by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was not present in the issue.
Dar was also joined by other Members from the Coalition who wanted to know why former Ministers and legislators are still occupying Government accommodation when the present Members are facing accommodation problem.
They demanded that all Members be provided same accommodation as was given to Ministers. Mir said it was ironic that defeated MLAs are living in Government accommodations but the present Members do not have any space to stay.
”When I was dropped from the Council of Ministers in the new Government, I was directed to vacate official accommodation within a day”, he said adding a number of former Ministers and MLA are still occupying the Government accommodation.
He was joined by another PDP MLA Abdul Paddar who demanded that MLAs should also get same accommodation as that of Ministers. ”How is it possible to hear people who come to meet us in one room accommodation?,” he asked.
They were also joined by other legislators, including from opposition bench, who said that MLA hostel in Srinagar does not have sufficient accommodation. Minister for Rural Development, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Haq Khan intervened and said the demand of the MLAs was genuine as it was difficult to live in one-room accommodation.
However, he informed the House that Government wishes to examine the issue and resolve it as early as possible. He said former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed wanted to build a multi-storied building with three-room flat for legislators. Speaker directed the Government to submit the report in the House about accommodation of legislators.
Later, the Deputy Speaker Nazir Gurezi said that he request the Government to resolve the issue because it is not right to hear the MLAs grievances daily in the House.
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