Bungalows of all other ex-CMs intact except Akhilesh Yadav: Estate Department

The Chief Minister had directed an investigation into the damage done to the property and slap recovery notices on whoever is found guilty.

LUCKNOW: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government ordered the estate department to conduct a thorough probe to scrutinise all bungalows vacated by the five former CMs including Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav and match it with their checklist for missing items. 

The Chief Minister had also directed an investigation into the damage done to the property and slap recovery notices on whoever is found guilty.

Following the scrutiny, the estate department said that barring Akhilesh's bungalow, everything is in place in all the other bungalows. The initial investigation revealed that neither anything is missing from the other bungalows nor anything was damaged.

"Prima facie, we found nothing missing from the other bungalows nor was anything damaged. Only in Akhilesh's 4 Vikramaditya Marg bungalow, all items installed by the department were missing and a lot of damage was done to government property," said an estate department official.

Yogesh Shukla, the estate officer, claimed that the department will cross-check the missing items with its checklist and slap recovery notices if any item is found missing or if the property is damaged. "We will seek legal opinion and then slap the notice on its allottee," the official added.

On Saturday, an Estate Department team had gone to the 4, Vikramaditya Marg residence allocated to Akhilesh Yadav after he left it, said the former CM had left the house, built under his watch at a cost of Rs 42 crore, in bad shape.

Officials, accompanied with photographers, got the residence photographed extensively to show the damages done when the property was being vacated. Officials told IANS that barring a marble temple in one corner of the house, the entire house had been damaged.

Expensive floor and wall tiles, lamination, and marble slabs have been damaged beyond repair and the electricity switch boards, switches have also been ripped off, said an official. All the air-conditioning ducts in the centrally air-conditioned house, which was rebuilt and renovated by the then SP government at the fag end of its tenure, have been plucked out, he added.

The all-weather swimming pool has also been filled with sand while the imported tiles it was lined with have all been broken, an official told IANS. Iron angles can be seen protruding at various places and many gates inside the house have also been damaged, they said.

Tiles of the badminton court, as well as the nets, have also been ripped off and all the ACs, TV, furniture, and fans have also been shifted out, the official said while pointing out that they will now check the inventory of the stuff sanctioned to him and will cross check it with whatever is left behind.

(With inputs from agencies)