Government rejects demand to convert Ajit Singhs residence into memorial: Ajit Singhs supporters on Thursday clashed with police while protesting against Centres move to evict him from official residence in Delhi, while the RLD chief demanded that the house be converted into a memorial to his father, former prime minister Charan Singh. If you can not give the house to me, please convert it into a memorial to my father, said former Union minister Ajit Singh making a last attempt to retain the sprawling government bungalow. However, the government has rejected the demand. The bungalow, 12 Tughlaq Road, cannot be converted into a memorial as the Union cabinet in 2000 banned conversion of government bungalows into memorials in the name of departed leaders, said a senior urban development ministry official. Having lost the Lok Sabha election, Singh had to vacate the house allotted to him. After serving eviction notice twice, when on Friday last week, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) disconnected the power and water supply to the house, Singhs supporters came up with a new demand — to convert the house into the memorial. Ajit Singh too is playing to the gallery. He has moved his stuff out of the house, but activist of the Bharitiya Kisan Union continue to occupy the premises. Meanwhile, a banner declaring the house as a memorial hangs from the house. The house should have been converted to a memorial in 1987. The farmers will not vacate the house, said Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union. The Kisan Union has now threatened to disconnected the water and power supply that Delhi gets from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. On Thursday, the tiff between the administration and the RLD supporters took an ugly twist when the protesters pelted stones at the police in Gang Nagar area near Ghaziabad triggering a lathicharge by the police. House 12, Tughlak Road was home to former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. After his death, his wife continued to stay there. When Ajit Singh became an MP, he got the same house allotted for himself. Never in his tenure as an MP or as a minister did Ajit Singh ever tried to get the house converted into a memorial. Now when he has been served eviction notice, the demand has cropped up. Though Ajit Singh now has vacated the house, he has come up with the memorial demand. There are memorials for Babu Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram and Lal Bahadur Shastri, so why not for Charan Singh. Farmers from all over the country feel associated with the house and it is their place in Delhi, said Ajit Singh. ReportIndiaRohinee SinghDNANew DelhiAjit SinghNew Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC)Urban development ministryurban developmentFriday, 19 September 2014 - 5:25am Police retaliate as RLD supporters protest eviction of Ajit Singh from the bungalowdnai.in/cnq44 dnaindia/india/report-government-rejects-demand-to-convert-ajit-singh-s-residence-into-memorial-2019736
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:27:06 +0000