Ministers of the 10th parliament will not be allotted flats in the MP buildings (NAM flats) situated on the Manik Mia Avenue and at Nakhalpara in the city.
Published : 09 Feb 2014, 08:50 PM
The decision was taken at the maiden meeting of the Parliament Committee on Sunday, the Parliament Secretariat said in a media statement.
The Parliament Committee takes care of housing and other facilities for the MPs.
As per the existing rule, an MP who becomes a minister has to move to ministerial apartments by vacating flats held as an MP.
In the case of the 9th Parliament this rule had often been violated, provoking media criticism.
The Parliament Committee also decided that no one other that the members of an MP’s family (wife, sons, daughters, parents, brothers and sisters) would be allowed to live in a flat allotted to an MP.
According to rules, only the legislators themselves or their spouses, parents, sons and daughters can live in the 324 flats of six MP buildings on Manik Mia Avenue and four at Nakhalpara in the capital.
In the last Parliament, some ministers and MPs had allowed their relatives or personal staff to live in their apartments in violation of this rule.
Former Awami League lawmaker Golam Maula Rony, elected from the Patuakhali district, had allowed a employee or relative to live in the government flat given to him, sparking a media outcry.
The previous Parliament Committee had repeatedly tried to set things right but did not succeed.
Meanwhile, a four-member House Committee, headed by Chief Whip ASM Feroz, has been formed to allot the flats to the MPs of the 10th Parliament.
The other members of the committee are Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and Opposition Chief Whip Tajul islam Chowdhury.
Chief Whip ASM Feroz, who chaired Sunday’s meeting, told bdnews24.com: “The allocation of flats will be finalised by taking into account the proportion of parliamentary seats that each political party has bagged in the polls.”