LUCKNOW: Can a powerful cabinet
minister
be rendered helpless by a retired
IAS officer? Holding finance portfolio in chief minister Adityanath Yogi’s government in the state,
Rajesh Agarwal is virtually homeless and had to set up a camp office in a room in VVIP guest house in the absence of an official residence.
Estate department had allotted a
bungalow
to Agarwal in the posh Raj Bhawan colony, adjacent to the VVIP Guest House about two-and-a-half months back but he has not been able to move in as it is occupied illegally by a retired officer of chief secretary rank and he is not vacating it. The officer owns a big house in Gomtinagar but is still not shifting there.
When ToI contacted Agarwal, he confirmed this and spoke about his predicament saying, “Whenever there is workload I shift to a room in the VVIP guest house. The minister said he had been allotted the bungalow by the estate department but it was occupied so he was managing from the small house in Gulistan Colony, where he has been living for the last 14 years.
A senior official of the estate department said the retired IAS officer of chief secretary rank, who was an Advisor in the Samajwadi Party government, has been asked to vacate but he has not moved out and the matter would soon be brought to the notice of chief minister Aditaya Nath Yogi.
Start a Conversation
Post comment