Authorities have learnt that Awami League lawmaker Golam Maula Rony, who had recently made headlines by beating up two television journalists, has not been living in the apartment the Jatiya Shangsad provided him.
Chief Whip Abdus Shahid told the Dhaka Tribune that Rony’s chauffeur has been living in the flat in violation of the rules governing the use of furnished flats for lawmakers.
The chief whip said he would place the report in this regard during the next meeting of the House Committee.
He, however, admitted that Rony was not the first lawmaker to have allowed a subordinate employee or relative to live in the flat given to them by the state.
The chief whip is the ex officio head of parliament’s House Committee, which looks after the accommodation and other facilities of the MPs.
“I will leave it to the House committee to decide what actions are to be taken against the MPs who allow unauthorised people to live in those flats,” Abdus Shahid said.
However, talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the accused ruling party legislator claimed: “I do not live there. The flat remains locked.”
Asked whether his chauffeur lives there, Rony said: “My driver’s wife fell sick. This is they were living there temporarily.”
The misuse of the government provided apartments, commonly known as Nam flats, by the MPs is an often discussed matter in the assembly.
As a follow up measure, the House committee in 2010 formed a sub-committee, tasked to inspect the apartments and identified more than 60 MPs, including some senior ones, violating the accommodation rules.
The Parliament Secretariat sent letters to each of the errant MPs asking them either to return the allotted flats or live there. But it failed to bring any significant result.