Lucknow: Day after the BJP and SP engaged in a bitter war of words over a government bungalow that former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had vacated, the state government has now ordered a probe into the alleged damages done to the properties.
The State Estate Officer, Yogesh Shukla said, “All the records of the vacated bungalows will be matched with the official records. The department has all the detail and records of all kinds of materials, including construction done if any, in the bungalows. If any matter comes to light that there was a deliberate damage done to the property, then notices will be issued and also recovery will be done accordingly.”
Pictures and video clips showed damages to a cycle track, walls after apparent removal of air-conditioners. The floor of what seemed to be a badminton court at the bungalow was also damaged.
The Samajwadi Party played down the damages, asking why the state of the homes recently vacated by other former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers in compliance with a Supreme Court order was not being shown.
“There are corruption charges on CM’s staff and the government is trying to cover it up by bringing the issue of my house. I will get the tap of the same brand installed, but then they should also return all the switches and light boards that we had installed,” said Akhilesh.
Yadav also challenged the state government to come up with a list of fittings damaged or removed when he moved out of the bungalow.
According to government officials, tallying of items, including that of lights and other fixtures, would also be done at the residences of former Chief Ministers Kalyan Singh, Mayawati and Rajnath Singh.
Former CM Narayan Dutt Tiwari, who is critically ill and admitted at a Delhi hospital, however, has not vacated his official residence and his wife has sought one year to do so, which has been rejected by the Estate Department. The extended deadline of June 3, given on compassionate grounds, is also over.
An Estate Department team, which went visited the 4, Vikramditya Marg residence allocated to Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday, said the former chief minister had left the house, built at a cost of Rs 42 crore, in bad shape.
Officials, accompanied with photographers, got the residence photographed extensively to show the damages done when the property was being vacated.
Expensive floor and wall tiles, lamination, and marble slabs have been damaged beyond repair and the electricity switch boards, switches have also been ripped off, said an official. All the air-conditioning ducts in the centrally air-conditioned house, which was rebuilt and renovated by the then SP government at the fag end of its tenure, have been plucked out, he added.
Iron angles can be seen protruding at various places and many gates inside the house have also been damaged.
As soon as pictures of the damaged house came out in the public domain, the BJP and SP leaders engaged in a verbal spat, with several state ministers slamming Akhilesh Yadav for damaging many parts of his house before vacating it "grudgingly".
Transport Minister Swatantra Dev Singh said such damage was "saddening" and in fact was a contempt of the apex court, while BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi said the "mindset and the culture" of Akhilesh Yadav had been exposed now.
Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary however has denied these charges saying the government has deliberately hatched this conspiracy to defame their party chief.
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