Rs 1.4 crore spent on non-existent Phansi Ghar: Parvesh Verma

Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Verma on Friday said that Rs 1.4 crore was spent on the “non-existent Phansi Ghar” during 2022-23, as the Assembly issued fresh summons to former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and others in the matter.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta tabled a report of the Committee of Privileges on the matter, suggesting summoning Kejriwal, his then-deputy Manish Sisodia, ex-Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel and his then-deputy Rakhi Birla. Earlier, on January 6, the Privileges Committee had recommended that the House take appropriate action against four AAP leaders for not appearing before it in a matter related to the authenticity of a ‘Phansi Ghar’. “The right of legislative committees to summon individuals and call for evidence has also been upheld by the Supreme Court. The Privileges Committee has recommended that appropriate action may be taken by the House against the concerned persons for their deliberate absence from the meetings of the committee,” Gupta said.

“Approximately Rs 1.4 crore was spent by the previous government on the structure, which does not exist,” Verma said.

The ‘Phansi Ghar’ (execution room) row is a dispute between the AAP and the BJP over a renovated section in the Delhi Assembly, which the AAP claims to be a British-era gallows chamber, while the BJP claims it was a tiffin room.

After the BJP came to power in Delhi in February last year, Speaker Gupta told the House that the British-era structure, which was renovated and inaugurated in 2022 by then chief minister Kejriwal as part of a ‘Phansi Ghar’, was actually a ‘tiffin room’.

Showing a 1912 map of the Assembly complex, Gupta said there were no documents or evidence indicating that the space was used for executions, and referred the matter to the Committee of Privileges for examination.

The renovated structure was inaugurated in the presence of Kejriwal, Sisodia, Rakhi Birla and Goel.