Vajpayee got house number changed

NEW DELHI: It happened four years ago when 8 Krishna Menon Marg was getting readied as the residence of the outgoing prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In a letter to the urban development ministry, the PMO asked for the number of the building to be changed, that too "prior to its allotment" to Vajpayee. Admitting that it was "an unusual request", the PMO gave a cryptic reason for it, "We have been advised that it would be more appropriate" that the bungalow be renumbered to 6-A.

The unexplained advice on the inappropriateness of No. 8 was presumably related to the fact that the previous occupant of that bungalow, Murasoli Maran, had suffered a fatal illness cutting short his stint in the Vajpayee government.

Superstition or not, the request made on May 19, 2004 prompted the urban development ministry to change the bungalow's number, literally overnight.

The file-noting made by the ministry took due note of the PMO's request to do the renumbering prior to the allotment of the building. Accordingly, the new number was issued within 24 hours as over a dozen officials of the ministry signed the file on a priority basis.

The documentation behind the number that was specially created for Vajpayee has come to light through RTI. But the RTI applicant, Subhash Chandra Aggarwal, got no response to his query whether factors like astrology, numerology and vaastu were the basis for the renumbering of Vajpayee's residence. All that the ministry said was that the renumbering had been done "as per communication received from the PMO".

Asked whether the option of changing municipal numbers would be extended to commoners as well, the ministry claimed: "As and when such request is received, the matter will be examined on merits." It is another matter though that there was no pretence of any merits being involved in Vajpayee's case.

The PMO too has been evasive under RTI on whether its records disclosed any grounds on which the renumbering request was made in the last days of the Vajpayee regime. It passed the buck to the urban development ministry, which was technically the authority that had complied with Vajpayee's request.

Aggarwal also tried to find out if there were other instances when the numbers of government bungalows were changed. CPWD, which takes care of the Lutyens' bungalow zone, replied: "No other case of such nature is in the knowledge of this office."


Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com