The secretariat of the speaker of Assam Assembly has sent a letter to several MLAs informing that the power and water connection of their officials will be disconnected on 31st July. The MLAs were asked to vacate their official quarters by 27th July, as those houses inside the Dispur capital complex in Guwahati will be demolished and new buildings will be constructed, but several of them are yet to move out of the houses.
As several opposition MLAs are refusing to vacate the houses, it has forced the administration to send an ultimatum. The notice says that the legislators need to vacate the houses as they will demolished from August 1.
Water and electricity services will be cut off at the MLA residence in Dispur, Assam from 1st August. Several MLAs including Ashraful Hussain, Abdur Rahim Ahmed are dissatisfied. They cannot vacate their houses by 31st July. This is the notice of power and water cuts. pic.twitter.com/GVRf3zircH
— Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi (@NANDANPRATIM) July 27, 2022
Several single-story ‘Assam Type’ houses in the MLA colony used as residence for MLAs, along with a multi-story building used as MLA hostel, are being demolished as part of capital complex redevelopment plan. These old houses are in dilapidated state, get flood during the monsoon, and require large amounts of money in maintenance and repairs of the houses which are decades old.
As a result, the state govt has decided to demolish the old houses and construct new multi-story buildings in their places. The new buildings will be used as residences for MLAs, and they will also have other facilities like a guest house, and will be equipped modern amenities and state of the art security measures.
The decision to demolish the old houses were announced in May this year, the MLAs staying in those houses were asked to vacate the houses by July 20 in that month itself. Affected MLAs have been asked to find rented accommodation to stay till the time the new buildings are ready. The MLAs will be paid Rs 50,000 per month towards house rent for the duration they will be staying outside the capital complex.
But several opposition MLAs are refusing to leave the official residences. When the MLAs didn’t vacate by the deadline of July 20, the secretariat had issued a final deadline of July 27, giving 7 more days. However, as the MLAs are still refusing to move out, today the notice was sent informing that power and water supplies will be cut on 31st August, and the demolitions will start from the next day.
Congress MLA Abdur Rashid Mandal is one such MLA, who says that instead of demolishing all houses at the same time, only some should be demolished, some new houses should be built, and after that the MLAs should be shifted there. He said that there is no need to construct all the new buildings at the same time.
AIUDF MLA Karim Uddin Barbhuiya said he and other MLAs are discussing the matter with the speaker, and they expect that the deadline will be extended. The reluctant MLAs have also said that they have not found suitable houses to rent, and they need more time to shift. Other MLAs who are refusing include Ashraful Hussain and Abdur Rahim Ahmed of AIUDF and Congress.
On the other hand, several MLAs have already vacated the houses, including ruling alliance MLAs, and demolition of those houses have already started. Ministers in Assam govt live in new ministerial quarters constructed recently.
Construction of new houses will start from September after clearing the site. According to the plan, two 10-story buildings will be constructed for residences of the MLAs, while another multi-story building will be constructed for staff of the assembly. A park will also come up in the space vacated by old houses. The buildings will be completed in two to three years.
As time available for construction is very short in monsoon due to long monsoon season, the construction needs to start in September, when the monsoon ends. Ever since BJP came to power in 2016, the speed of construction of govt projects have improved remarkably. While it was not uncommon earlier for govt projects to get delayed by decades, now roads, bridges, flyovers etc are being completed months ahead of schedule. Given such a scenario, it is unlikely that the deadline to vacate the houses will be extended, as Himanta Biswa Sarma govt will like to complete the new houses as soon as possible.
