Congress to vacate Lutyens’ Delhi bungalow housing Sewa Dal office soon
New Delhi, April 12
The Congress will soon vacate a Lutyens’ Delhi bungalow allotted to its frontal organisation Sewa Dal, party sources said on Tuesday.
The party will also vacate a flat in Chanakyapuri in central Delhi by April 15, they added.
Furniture and other items are being moved from the 26, Akbar Road bungalow, which housed the Sewa Dal office. It is adjacent to the party’s national headquarters on 24, Akbar Road.
The Sewa Dal office would relocate to a bungalow on Raisina Road, which also houses the offices of the Indian Youth Congress and the NSUI.
“We will soon be shifting to Raisina Road office and directions have been given to the Sewa Dal workers to pack up their material from 26, Akbar Road office,” Congress Sewa Dal chief organiser Lalji Desai told PTI.
An official said the Congress had been allotted four bungalows by the government for its offices as a national party.
The party had been allotted land on DDU Marg to construct its own office in 2010 and it had three years to vacate any government bungalow given to it as an office.
The work on the DDU Marg building is nearing completion and the party’s headquarters would be moved there soon, sources in the party said.
Sources also said the party has assured the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry that it will vacate the accommodation in Chanakyapuri in Lutyens’ Delhi by April 15.
The assurance came days after the Directorate of Estates issued a show-cause notice to the party asking it to vacate the flat which was earlier occupied by party chief Sonia Gandhi’s aide Vincent George.
Sources said that Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal has submitted in writing that the party will vacate the Chanakyapuri flat by April 15.
In the eviction notice issued on March 25, the directorate had flagged the “unauthorised occupation” of the flat and said it should be vacated.
The notice said the allotment for the accommodation was cancelled in 2013 by the directorate.
According to officials, damages amounting to approximately Rs 3 crore can be levied on the Congress for overstaying at the Chanakyapuri property.
As part of its action against illegal occupants of government bungalows, the ministry evicted Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan recently from the 12, Janpath bungalow allotted to his late father Ram Vilas Paswan in 1990.
