The power and water connections of various MLAs’ officials will be cut off on July 31st, according to a letter that several MLAs received from the speaker’s secretariat of the Assam Assembly. Since the mansions inside the Guwahati Dispur capital complex will be razed and replaced with new structures, the MLAs were advised to leave their official residences by July 27. However, several of them have failed to do so.

Numerous opposition MLAs’ refusals to leave their homes have compelled the administration to issue an ultimatum. The notification informs the lawmakers that they must leave the residences as they will be torn down starting on August 1.

Warning letter to Assam MLAs
Credit: Twitter

As part of the capital complex reconstruction plan, many single-story “Assam Type” homes in the MLA colony that are utilized as MLA residences as well as a multi-story building that is used as an MLA dormitory are being torn down. As these old houses need a lot of funds for maintenance and repairs because they are in a deteriorated state, the state government has chosen to remove the old homes and replace them with brand-new multi-storey ones as a result.

The new structures will serve as MLAs’ quarters and will include guest houses as well as other amenities including modern conveniences and cutting-edge security systems.

The decision to demolish the ancient homes was made public in May of this year, and the MLAs who were living there were requested to leave by July 20. Affected MLAs have been told to find rental housing so they may stay until the new buildings are finished. The MLAs would receive Rs 50,000 per month in housing allowance while they live outside the capital complex.

However, a number of opposition MLAs are staying inside their official mansions instead. When the MLAs didn’t leave by the July 20 deadline, the secretariat set a new deadline for July 27—a 7-day extension. However, because of the MLAs’ continued refusal to leave, a notification was given today stating that power and water supplies would be turned off on August 31 and demolition would begin the following day.

Abdur Rashid Mandal, a Congress MLA, is one of these MLAs who believes that rather than demolishing all homes at once, just some should be destroyed, some new homes should be constructed, and then the MLAs should be relocated there. He asserted that not all new buildings needed to be built at once.

The deadline is being discussed with the speaker, according to AIUDF MLA Karim Uddin Barbhuiya and other MLAs, who anticipate that it would be extended. The reluctant MLAs have also claimed that they need more time to relocate because they haven’t been able to find acceptable rental homes. Ashraful Hussain and Abdur Rahim Ahmed of the AIUDF and Congress are two additional MLAs who are defying orders.

After the property has been cleared, construction on the new homes will begin in September. The design calls for the construction of two buildings with ten stories each to house the legislators, and another building with many stories to house the assembly’s personnel. In the area where the ancient houses once stood, a park will also be built. Two to three years will pass before the structures are finished.

Since the BJP took office in 2016, the pace of government project construction has significantly increased. It is unlikely that the time to evacuate the homes will be extended in light of this situation because the Himanta Biswa Sarma government wants the new homes to be finished as soon as possible.

 

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