No More 5-Star Accommodations For Newly Elected MPs

Earlier, after every Lok Sabha election, the newly elected MPs enjoyed a 5-star hotel stay until an official residence was allocated to them. But this Lok Sabha election, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has put its foot down and said that a 5-star hotel accommodation to the newly elected MPs won’t be provided and is offering them residence at parliament’s hostel instead. the newly-elected members are expected to start arriving in the national capital from Friday.

Snehlata Shrivastava, the Lower House’s Secretary General at a press conference said the Lok Sabha secretariat has done away with the system of transit accommodation in hotels. This system was usually criticised for what it costed the exchequer. “The newly-elected members will be accommodated in Western Court, its newly-built annexe and various state bhawans. Thus, the Lok Sabha secretariat has done away with the system of transit accommodation in hotels,” Shrivastava said. Economic Times had reported that in 2014, there were 300 new MPs and there was an accommodation crisis as some former MPs had not vacated their official residences. The accommodation arrangements that the Lok Sabha secretariat had to make for the MPs in 2014 cost the exchequer ₹30 crore. As a result of this, the Lok Sabha’s housing committee had proposed to build 88 new blocks in the Western Court with two levels of parking.

As per Economic Times report, accommodation arrangements for 100 new MPs have been made in the Western Court and its annexe building, while 265 new parliamentarians would be lodged in state bhawans. However, the Lok Sabha secretariat seems to be prepared this time and it has set up help desks at all three terminals of the Indira Gandhi International Airport and railway stations in the national capital and 56 nodal officers have been assigned around eight to ten constituencies each, to assist the newly elected parliamentarians.

Alos Read: After Public Anger, Food In Parliament Canteen Will No Longer Be Subsidized