After setting an example of ‘samajwad’ by trashing his government bungalow before vacating it following Supreme Court orders, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had brazened it out by giving veiled threats to bureaucrats who let the mediapersons take picture of the house. Taking it a step further, Yadav has now appealed to the journalists and offered Rs. 11 lakh, which he would collect from Samajwadi Party people and pay it to the one who gives the names of the journalists who had taken pictures and videos of the government accommodation that drew a lot of flak.

People say that I did illegal construction, whereas the map was passed by LDA: Akhilesh Yadav, Former Uttar Pradesh CM | #AkhileshPayBack pic.twitter.com/HgJjbHPC8n — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) August 5, 2018

In a video uploaded by Times Now, Yadav appears to be addressing a group of Samajwadi Party workers where he is saying he has a list of all NOCs and permissions for the construction. He says that people accuse him of doing illegal construction at his former government accommodation, but he had got the map passed by the LDA (Lucknow Development Authority), which he is willing to share. He then asked his ‘journalist friends’ to out the name of the journalists who had filmed the bungalow he left in ruins, following which the Samajwadi Party people will collect Rs. 2,000 from each person and reward them Rs. 11 lakh.

In a 266 pages report submitted by the inquiry committee headed by Chief Engineer (Bhawan) of Public Works Department (PWD) mentioned damage to the terrace, kitchen, electrical equipment, floor tiles, lawns, paint, brickwork and bathroom fittings of worth Rs 5.19 lakh. Besides, the team also claimed that the loss due to illegal structure erected by Yadav came to Rs 5.84 lakh.

The probe team also found that besides construction carried out by Estate Department, Yadav had pumped in Rs 78.39 lakh for maintenance/beautification, Rs 54.15 lakh for the extension of house, Rs 174.95 lakh in two-storeyed guest house, Rs 156.50 lakh on security house/two storeyed-waiting room, Rs 56.53 lakh on servant’s quarter (double storeyed), Rs 22.92 lakh on generator room, Rs 13.19 lakh on Trimix flooring and Rs 1.23 lakh on pathway. All this came to a whopping Rs 5.57 crore.

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It may be mentioned that out of this amount, about Rs 90 lakh went from Estate Department coffers.

The row over the vacating of official bungalows started when the Supreme Court, on 7th May 2018, struck down the amendment to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances, and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1981 to provide for the allotment of government residence to former chief ministers for a lifetime. Former CMs, including Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh, Akhilesh Yadav and ND Tiwari were amongst those who were asked to vacate the government bungalows following the Supreme Court order.