Thiruvananthapuram: Public Works minister G. Sudhakaran has decided to bring down the room rent of PWD rest houses for MPs and MLAs to Rs 50 on par with the rates at the government guest houses. There are 149 PWD rest houses in the state, out of which those in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode have higher rates. Currently, non-AC rooms and AC rooms for MPs are charged Rs 135 and Rs 185 respectively. MLAs were charged Rs 300 and Rs 400 for non-AC and AC rooms respectively. These have been reduced to Rs 50 and '25 for AC and non-AC rooms for both MPs and MLAs.
“The new tariffs are applicable with effect from May 25, 2016 when the LDF government came to power. The rooms in rest houses were given at a cheaper rates to MPs and MLAs compared to the rates at government guest houses”, said Mr Sudhakaran. This had resulted in huge loss for the rest houses across the state. In due course, the tariff will be increased.
A senior PWD official told DC that rest houses are maintained for legislators and parliamentarians as well as government servants who visit other districts for official purposes. “The rest houses are not meant for revenue generation for the department. The paltry tariffs have been charged from MPs and MLAs so as to manage the maintenance cost without any hiccup,” the official said.
