ON THE heels of the UT Administration writing to Punjab government to take a call on an official bungalow allotted to former CM late Surjeet Singh Barnala, another house occupied by former CM late Beant Singh’s family too has come into the picture.
Kin of Beant Singh have been allotted a house in Sector 5 near Chandigarh’s Rock Garden.
The house was allotted in 2002, during Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s earlier tenure as CM. Amarinder had announced life-time Cabinet status to Beant Singh’s wife Jaswant Kaur.
She was also allotted the bungalow from the ‘Punjab Chief Minister’s Pool.’ Jaswant Kaur passed away in 2010. The house is still in possession of the couple’s son Tej Parkash Singh, a former minister, and grandchildren.
While UT administration has urged the Punjab government to decide the fate of the house given to Barnalas, Punjab’s department of General Administration is saying that as the house was not allotted to the ex-CM, the UT may not raise the issue of this (Beant kin) house.
“The SC order is about houses allotted to former CMs. We are debating on whether this house too would be coming under the purview of this direction. Although Beant Singh’s wife too is no more it is up to Punjab government to take a call on whether it should get the house vacated. Nobody has raised any objection to this as yet,” said a government official.