NEW DELHI: The Nagaland government has asked two women employees, both widows, posted at Nagaland house Delhi to vacate their official flats so that Nagaland governor RN Ravi is allowed to retain his bungalow here that was allotted to him in his capacity as the chairman of the joint intelligence committee.
As per reports, the two widow employees are now staying in rented accommodation.
T Mhabemo Yanthan, the governor’s commissioner and secretary, did not deny the incident and said “if there was any resentment over the action, it was up to the state government to deal with it”, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
RN Ravi was allotted the flat in tony New Moti Bagh in March 2015 following his appointment to the JIC earlier in 2014. He was simultaneously made the interlocutor for the talks between the government and the NSCN-IM.
But although even he retired from the intelligence panel in August 2018, he continues to occupy the premises to date. Sources said the ground on which he made a case for retaining the bungalow was that he continues to be the interlocutor for the Naga talks even after his appointment as the governor in August 2019.
Rs 64 lakh rent pending
The Indian Express reported that Ravi is yet to pay nearly Rs 64 lakh towards rent for the bungalow for which he has been issued a notice under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971.
According to a “provisional rent report” sent to Ravi, a copy which has been accessed by this newspaper, he has been asked to appear before the Directorate of Estates, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, for a “personal hearing” on July 15 “or through a duly authorized representative” to hear the dispute over the dues.
Every state government is allotted property under the General Pool Residential Accommodation to house its employees posted in Delhi. They are mostly located in central Delhi and managed by the Directorate of Estates.
Widows ‘threatened’
As per a complaint filed by one of the widows, they were served several showcause notices and even allegedly threatened by officials close to the governor. The complaint said they were told that if they don’t surrender their Type-2 flats as an “adjustment” for Ravi’s bungalow, they would either be suspended or transferred home.
Plea to Dy. CM
The other woman officer in a letter written to deputy chief minister and minster in-charge of Home, Yanthungo Patton on March 31 this year pleaded that she be excluded “ from being the next target for eviction of my entitled quarter in which I have been staying for the last 25 years.” “I am a widow with two children who are solely dependent on me. If I am evicted from the government accommodation allotted to me, I will not be in a position to stay in (a) rented house as I belong to a low salaried income group of employees,” she wrote. But their pleas apparently fell on deaf ears and they vacated their houses.
(Inputs from Indian Express)