No 5-star stay for new MPs waiting for official homes

NEW DELHI: None of the new Lok Sabha MPs will have the luxury of staying in 5-star hotels till they are provided official accommodation, which will help the government save about Rs 30 crore this time. The Lok Sabha secretariat on Wednesday said it had done away with the earlier provision of transit accommodation in hotels for newly elected MPs.
Lok Sabha secretary general Snehlata Shrivastava said, “The newly elected members will be accommodated in Western Court and its newly built annexe and various state ‘Bhavans’. The Lok Sabha Secretariat has done away with the system of transit accommodation.”
Sources said about 350 rooms are being arranged to meet the requirement of transit accommodation for new MPs.
Due to shortage of adequate temporary accommodation in 2014, the government had spent nearly Rs 35 crore for transit stay of newly elected MPs. About Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 per day was the cost of hotel stay of each MP if they stayed at ITDC hotels such as ‘The Ashok’. This had attracted huge public criticism. The demand for accommodation of new MPs was a record high in 2014 as there were 330 first-time lawmakers.
This had triggered the Lok Sabha House Committee to accelerate building of a new block in Western Court on Janpath, which has increased capacity to accommodate 162 lawmakers. The complex was built with Rs 80.5 crore and it has two levels of basements with the capacity to park 391 cars. While inaugurating the new block, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said when MPs are elected, they have to stay in hotels and this makes headlines.
Giving details of the arrangements for the new MPs, Shrivasatava said returning officers in all parliamentary constituencies had already been informed about the arrangements being made by the Lok Sabha Secretariat for transit accommodation, telephone facilities and other preliminary requirements. For the first time, the advance copy of the documentation, containing various forms, has been forwarded to the returning officers for the use of the new members, she said.
She also said the Central Hall has been refurbished and made more beautiful and a aromatic garden is being developed in the Parliament complex. Officials said the aromatic-cum-herbal garden will have medicinal and flowering plants.