Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Central government has asked former Congress MP Begum Noor Bano to vacate her official flat, which she had been wrongly occupying despite losing the Lok Sabha elections five years ago.
Bano lost elections in her Rampur constituency in 2004 and again in 2009, but she refused to let go off her plush MP’s flat in New Delhi.
Bano, who belongs to the former royal family of Rampur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, was given the flat, 29 Meena Bagh, in one of Delhi’s most affluent addresses in 1999 when she became an MP. She should have vacated the flat five years ago when she lost the Lok Sabha elections.
The flat which Bano continues to live in has now been allotted to Congress MP From Andhra Pradesh, Rajagopal Reddy. But Bano is unwilling to move out and refused to comment on why she continues to live in the flat when she is no longer an MP.
Bano’s family owns a palace, Noor Mahal, in Rampur and can pay up for her own accommodation in New Delhi, but such is her clout within the Congress that Reddy, whose house she is occupying, is unwilling to say anything on camera. Bano’s party colleagues defend her.
"Why should you single out one person. There are lot many MPs and bureaucrats or people from other categories doing this," says Rajiv Shukla, Rajya Sabha Congress MP.
The rulebook is clear: MPs are given three months to leave their government-allotted house if they lose elections. Exceptions can be made for a medical emergency, but only if the occupant is willing to pay the market rent
Bano, in that case, would have to pay a minimum monthly rent of Rs 75, 000 for the flat besides the electricity and water bills. By that calculation, even taking a three-month grace period, she owes the government Rs 49.50 lakh just as house rent. CNN-IBN has learnt that Bano didn’t pay the market rent.
Bano’s relatives indicate that she will move out if the Congress gives her an alternative accommodation. They won’t be getting any such help: Bano was asked to move out of the flat after CNN-IBN asked Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy whether he was planning to take any action against Bano.
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