New Delhi, May 12 :
Members of Parliament who have no spouses are in for a treat: from now on, they can take a partner of their choice to fill in the gap when they travel by air or on a train.
There are over 30 MPs who are either single by choice or widowed by destiny, and deprived of facilities available to colleagues with spouses. To remove the 'anomaly', a Bill was today introduced in the Lok Sabha to provide them equal facilities.
Topping the list of 'single' parliamentarians is the Prime Minister himself. Close behind are Sangh parivar veteran Nanaji Deshmukh and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Kanshi Ram.
Among the women are railway minister Mamata Banerjee, BSP leader Mayavati (both spinsters), BJP's Uma Bharti, Congress' Girija Vyas, Rita Verma (widow), and junior foreign minister Vasundhara Raje (divorcee).
Many 'single' MPs had complained to parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan about the discrimination. They had requested that they be allowed to take a companion while travelling, sources close to Mahajan said.
The Bill introduced by Mahajan 'provides that where a member has no spouse, such member may be accompanied by any person in place of the spouse, and notwithstanding anything contained in clause (i), the person so accompanying shall be entitled to every facility available to the spouse.'
The Bill, which will be passed unanimously in the next session, enables the spouse of an MP to travel by rail in AC first class or by air from the usual place of residence of the member to Delhi eight times a year.
Other facilities are: in case of premature dissolution of the Lok Sabha, members can avail of the unutilised quota of one lakh free telephone calls, 25,000 units of electricity and 2,000 kilolitres of water available to them in a year from the date of dissolution till the constitution of the new Lok Sabha.
The Bill also provides that a member 'who is blind or incapacitated physically as to require the facility of an attendant with respect to each such journey' will be entitled 'an equal amount to one fare by air for such journey' or free rail facility.