Chiranjeevi
ChiranjeeviGovernment of India

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has served eviction notices to 16 former ministers of the UPA government, who have been unauthorisedly staying in government bungalows and flats for over a month.

K Chiranjeevi, who is also a popular Telugu film star, is among the former ministers who have been served eviction notices.

Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu stated this in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, in a written reply to Anurag Thakur, PC Gaddigoudar and Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, Members of Lok Sabha.

Naidu also informed that the former ministers owe a total damage charges of Rs 20,92,463 for one month of unauthorised stay till 26 July. Damage charges ranged from Rs 53,250 per month in case of Type V accommodation of Lalchand Kataria to Rs 2,43,678 for Type III accommodation of Jaipal Reddy.

Other former ministers who are in unauthorised possession of such bungalows include Kapil Sibal, Ajit Singh, Farooq Abdullah, Beni Prasad Verma, Pallam Raju, Girija Vyas, Krishna Tirath, SK Jena, Sachin Pilot, Jitendra Singh, Pradip Jain Aditya, Porika Balram Naik, Killi Kriparani and Manikrao Hodya Gavit.

Naidu further informed that another 21 former ministers are staying in General Pool Bungalows and they have been given 15 days time to move into their entitled accommodation to be provided by respective House Committees.

These former ministers, who are members of either Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha, have been advised to obtain accommodation from their respective pools. They include AK Anthony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, M Veerappa Moily, Vyalar Ravi, Oscar Fernandes, Jairam Ramesh, Jyothiraditya Scindia, KV Thomas, K.Ranhman Khan, KH Muniyappa, Shasi Tharoor, K Chiranjivi, Mullappally Ramachandran, Rajiv Shukla, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, AH Khan Choudhury, Ninon Erring, EM Sudershan Nachiappan, KC Venugopal and J Seelam.

A total of 683 flats, ranging from Type I to Type VII, are under unauthorised occupation of former employees and others for a period ranging from one month to 21 years.

All these have been issued eviction notices. One Type I accommodation is under unauthorised occupation since March 1993, against which total damage charges of Rs 21,36,246 is due. In respect to others, damage charges that are due ranged from Rs 4,247 to Rs 60,04,164, Naidu revealed.

Doppler Weather Radars 

To get early alerts about cloudburst and heavy rain in higher sensitive reaches like Himalayan ranges and Uttarakhand areas, the Union government proposed to install hi-tech doppler weather radars.

Based on scientific assessment, expansion of observing system network has been formulated by Earth System Science Organization-India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD), under its project Integrated Himalayan Meteorology Programme for Western & Central Himalayas.

The network comprises Doppler Weather Radars, rain radars, Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs), Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs), Snow Gauges, said Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh on Wednesday in Lok Sabha.

It covers Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The total budget proposed for the entire project is approximately Rs 117 crore, Singh added.