About a hundred newly elected MLAs will not be able to enjoy the luxury of government accommodation in Patna.

They will have to find homes on rent, because most of the old MLA flats in and around Beer Chand Patel Marg have been demolished for the construction of duplex bungalows for the legislators. And those swank bungalows - each with a floor area of 3,500sqft and comprising three bedrooms on the first floor, one office room and one public meeting room on the ground floor - will not be ready before two years.

The newly elected MLAs will, however, be paid a monthly house rent allowance of Rs 22,500 and will get another Rs. 6,000 against payment of electricity and water charges.

When the demolition of the old flats in the Beer Chand Patel Marg area had started last year, the state government's building construction department had given Rs 5 crore to the urban development and housing department to renovate about 75 higher income group (HIG) flats of the Bihar State Housing Board in Kankerbagh for the legislators to stay in. The lawmakers were not impressed

"None of the legislators who were offered the HIG flats had accepted it after their original flats at Beer Chand Patel Marg were demolished. As a result, they were paid house rent allowance," said Amrendra Pratap Singh, former deputy speaker.

Apparently, the legislators prefer government quarters to private accommodation.

"We need government quarters in Patna mostly because of our supporters," said Dhirendra Pratap Singh, newly elected Independent MLA from Valmiki Nagar constituency in West Champaran district. "Many a times people from our constituency, when they come to Patna for some essential work, come to us requesting accommodation in our allotted quarters. We would not be able to extend our help in such cases (if there is no government accommodation)." Senior officials in the building construction department maintained that the new duplex bungalows would not take less than two years to complete. "The work order for the Vidhayak Awas project was awarded to the short-listed firm before the model code of conduct came into force for the elections," an official explained. "The ground-level work has already started, and we expect the project to be complete in around two years."

The Rs 307.73-crore project envisages developing the bungalows over an area of 69.85 acres spread over three adjoining locations: R Block (39.63 acres), Daroga Prasad Rai Path (23.25 acres) and Beer Chand Patel Marg (5.97 acres).

As per the detailed project report prepared by the Patna based builders Sen & Lall Consultants Private Limited, these colonies would have community establishments and amenity spaces - such as community centres, shopping complexes, schools, police posts, service blocks, swimming pool and laundry services - to make them self-sustained neighbourhoods.