Ministerial home to go, Harsimrat Badal allotted Lodi Estate bungalow

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, August 31

Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal will soon vacate the ministerial bungalow she and her husband and SAD chief Sukhbir Badal have been living in since 1998 when the house was allotted to the latter in his capacity as MP and minister.

The ministry of housing and urban affairs in a letter to Harsimrat recently notified that she was being allotted another general-pool bungalow of type VI in Lodi Estate in lieu of 12 Safdarjung Road type VIII bungalow she had been occupying as a union minister, a charge she relinquished in 2020 after resigning from the ruling NDA over the controversial farm laws.

Sources said Harsimrat had been given the technical possession of the Lodi Estate house on Tuesday with the bungalow currently under repair.

Once the house is ready, the MP would vacate her 12 Safdarjung Road house, the family has lived in for nearly 25 years.

The re-allotment of bungalow to Harsimrat is part of the government’s ongoing task of getting ministerial bungalows vacated after the expiry of the ministers’ term or their demise.

Earlier, the government got the Janpath Road bungalow occupied by late minister Ram Vilas Paswan vacated.

The Lodi Estate house allotted to Harsimrat was occupied by MP Ranee Nara of the Congress. She was served an eviction notice to get the house vacated following which the bungalow was handed over to Harsimrat on technical basis.

Technical possession means the house will be occupied once the Central Public Works Department concludes its repair and refurbishing.

The Safdarjung Road residence had been allotted to the Badals on security grounds by the erstwhile NDA as well as UPA governments.