BHOPAL: The Narendra Modi government is spending about Rs 8 lakh a day on providing five-star accommodation to 92 parliamentarians in New Delhi.

The list of these MPs, provided by the Lok Sabha secretariat in response to an RTI query by Neemuch-based activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur, includes minister of state and singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo, who has been staying at Hotel Ashok for the past seven months. All these MPs have already been allotted a government house.

Also on the list are six BJP MPs from Madhya Pradesh: Bhagirath Prasad (Bhind), Bodh Singh Bhagat (Balaghat), Rao Uday Pratap Singh (Hoshangabad), Dalpat Singh Paraste (Shahdol), Chintamani Malviya (Ujjain) and Manohar Untwal (Dewas). The hotel stay is costing the central government about Rs 7,000 per MP per day. The revelation comes at a time when the Union government has embarked on a series of austerity measures and is advocating a reduction in public expenditure.

When TOI contacted the MPs from Madhya Pradesh who are on the list, they claimed renovation work was under way at the houses allotted to them and they had, therefore, been forced to put up at the hotel.

“A house has been allotted to me,” Prasad, the BJP MP from Bhind, told TOI.

“But the newly built complex where I have been provided the accommodation was inaugurated only on December 23. Some work is still under way and I will shift as soon as it is complete,” he said.

Bhagat, the MP from Balaghat, said: “I have been allotted a house in a new complex and work is still going on there. As far as I know it will take around two months for the work to be completed. I will shift as soon as the house is ready.”

Paraste, the Shahdol MP, too, gave the same defence. Malviya, Untwal and Rao Uday Pratap Singh could not be contacted. “If taxes are also included, the expense comes to around Rs 8,300 per MP per day,” RTI activist Gaur told TOI.

All the 92 MPs have already been allotted a government house.

Six BJP MPs from state: Bhagirath Prasad (Bhind), Bodh Singh Bhagat (Balaghat),

Rao Uday Pratap Singh (Hoshangabad),

Dalpat Singh Paraste (Shahdol), Chintamani Malviya (Ujjain) and Manohar Untwal (Dewas) are on the list.