Javadekar, Sushma Swaraj among union ministers yet to clear dues on official bungalows, reveals RTI

PTI, May 19, 2019, 3:33 PM IST

New Delhi: Several Union ministers, including Vijay Goel, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Sitaraman and Sushma Swaraj, have not cleared dues on their official bungalows till February, the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said.

Replying to an RTI query, the ministry said Union Minority Affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Union Minister of State for development of north eastern region Jitendra Singh also have outstanding payments on their bungalows. These dues concern furniture and other things provided at the bungalows, an official of the ministry said.

The Directorate of Estates, which comes under the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, allots bungalows to Union ministers and MPs in the national capital. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman had pending dues of Rs 53, 276 while dues of Rs 86,923 was not cleared by Javadekar till February.

Goel, who is minister of state for parliamentary affairs, also did not clear dues running into nearly Rs 3 lakh while Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh had dues of Rs 2,88,269 till February, it stated.

Responding to the RTI query, the directorate said External Affairs Minister Swaraj had pending dues of Rs 98,890 on her official bungalow till the same period. The Directorate of Estates issues a ‘No Demand Certificate (NDC)’ to those ministers and MPs who have cleared their dues.

According to the RTI reply, there was only Rs 14,627 dues pending on Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot after he paid Rs 1,23,215 out of Rs 1,37,842 accessed from August 2014 to February 2019. There are also several Union ministers who have cleared their dues.

Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Giriraj Singh, Babul Supriyo, Harsh Vardhan, Manoj Sinha, Narendra Singh Tomar, Mahesh Sharma, Jayant Sinha, Ravi Shanker Prasad, Uma Bharti and Smriti Irani are among the Union ministers who have cleared their dues.