All the 21 parliamentary secretaries appointed by the Delhi Government are now demanding a separate room on the Vidhan Sabha premises. This demand has put the Assembly administration in a fix as there is clamour for bigger and plush rooms. Intense lobbying is going on in the city Government with 21 AAP legislators who have been appointed as parliamentary secretaries with different Ministers demanding that each be given a separate room in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha so that they could effectively discharge their respective responsibilities. This is for the first occasion when the city Government has appointed as many as 21 parliamentary secretaries in the national Capital.
While the newly designated parliamentary secretaries are reportedly mounting pressure on the Government that each be provided with separate accommodation, the Assembly Secretariat is busy in identifying rooms that can be allocated to the party MlAs.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel has said that the authorities have already identified 14 rooms which had never ever been put to use. "We are getting these rooms renovated so that they can be used by the parliamentary secretaries." Source said that the Speaker had submitted the details of the 14 rooms to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who will take a decision on which MlA be allocated single room so that the remaining one could share the space in other rooms.
Sources said that parliamentary secretaries who had been handling departments of power, water, health and education were most likely to get separate rooms. The allocation of the office space to the parliamentary secretaries is likely to put a burden on the State exchequer as each would have to be provided with office staff like peon and an assistant to discharge their day-to-day duties.
It is expected that the Delhi Government may incur expenses of around Rs one lakh per parliamentary secretary if they are provided minimum support staff that include steno, peon and driver. This means the Government will have to bear expenditure of Rs 21 lakh per month per parliamentary secretary. It is estimated that it will put Rs 12.50 crore burden on exchequer.
What has, however, surprised many is the fact that three AAP legislators SC Bagga, Somnath Bharati and Rakhi Birla have also been allocated separate rooms in the Vidhan Sabha. Both Bagga and Bharati have been allocated rooms as members of the DDA, which is directly under the command of the Centre. Birla has been allotted room as she is the women and child welfare committee Minister. This was the first time that DDA members have been given office space at Delhi Assembly.
BJP MlA and leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta has already written to the Assembly Speaker demanding the same office allotted to the party earlier. The BJP, which had been retaining room number 29 and 30 as party office, shifted to room No. 32 during the AAP Government regime.
Asked why the three legislators had been allocated rooms, Goel said that Bagga and Bharati would be attending the issues concerning the DDA from the Vidhan Sabha premises. "Now MlAs can directly come up with the DDA-related issues to them in their respective offices so that they can take them up with the officers concerned."
Of the 20-odd committees of the Delhi Assembly, rooms have been allocated to chairpersons of only six committees, including three on finance. Criticising the move, Gupta questioned, "Why have our two MlAs -- one who is also chairman of a committee and other, who is the member of the DDA-- not been allotted separate rooms IJ"
"In the Assembly, people can meet parliamentary secretaries regarding their problems. As many as 14 rooms were also lying vacant for several years on the Assembly premises. I have decided to provide office space for 21 parliamentary secretaries so that they could serve the people from here," Goel said.