Capital’s low-cost housing ‘closed’ for commoners

[Salman]

Capital Development Authority (CDA) has long neglected Islamabad’s only low-cost public sector resthouse named Aam Saraey (commoner’s inn). No funds have been allocated for the inn for four financial years in a row and the inn’s furniture and building is in dilapidated shape in the absence of regular cleaning and maintenance, Pakistan Today has learnt.

The condition of the inn is causing great unease for poor travelers who need to stay in Islamabad on temporary basis.

The inn was inaugurated in 1987 with a view to provide housing solutions to needy travelers staying temporarily in the Federal Capital. The inn is a 20-bed facility of which 12 are single rooms and the remaining eight are family rooms.

It is pertinent to mention here that the staff appointed for the buiding’s maintenance and security is getting their salaries and make occasional visits to the inn to justify their wages even though no guests have been entertained at the inn for the past three and half years without any valid reason, Pakistan Today has further learnt.

“Some four year back, an influential group of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) got eight rooms allotted in the inn and made them their permanent abode against the rules and regulations of the inn. CDA was helpless in getting the rooms vacate from the illegal occupants,” said a security guard appointed at the inn.

He added that six months after the illegal occupation, CDA succeeded in getting the rooms vacated by taking high-ups of the ruling political party into confidence. “However, since then the inn has been closed for every one,” the guard recalled.

A family from Rahim Yar Khan was found exchanging harsh words with the caretaker of the inn who refused to allow them to spend the night at the inn though the family pleaded that they had no other place to spend the night.

Talking to this scribe, Nazir Gopang, a resident of Fazal Pur, District Rajanpur said that he had no idea that the inn had been closed as he had found it functional when he last visited Islamabad some five years back.

Recalling his last visit, a disturbed Gopang said, “We took two rooms costing only Rs175 per night and it was a comfortable place to stay for a night or two. Now that this inn has been closed, we will have to pay Rs1,500 to Rs2 ,000 for a one-night stay in some private guest house.”

When contacted, CDA director enforcement – who is also the focal person of CDA for Sector G-7 where the inn is situated– said that he was not sure that such an inn even exists, adding that he assumed charge only recently. However, he ensured that the facility would be renovated and made fully functional. He also promised to get funds allocated for the purpose in the next financial year.