'Cong MLA evicted from bungalow as per legal proceedings'

Dehradun, Jun 28: Describing the Congress' protests as "wrong", the Uttarakhand government on Monday said the eviction of MLA Kishore Upadhyay from his official residence was done after completing legal proceedings.

In a statement, state media advisory committee chairman Devendra Bhasin said Upadhyay was illegally occupying for the last four years the bungalow alloted to him when he was a minister in the previous Congress government.

When BJP government came to power in 2007, Upadhyay was alloted a house in MLA transit hostel and was requested to vacate the house at Yamuna colony, Bhasin said.

Later, the government also sent several letters to the Congress MLA but no response was received from his side, he added.

Last year, a case was registered against him by the state estates department in a Dehradun court which ordered Upadhyay to immediately vacate the house and pay Rs 8,750 per month as rent from Mar 13, 2007 till he vacates the house, Bhasin said.

Bhasin said the bungalow has now been alloted to state Disaster Management Minister Khajan Das.

The eviction was done yesterday when Upadhyay and his family was away at Kolkata. The step invited protests from Congress workers.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat alleged that state government's action is politically motivated.

PTI