Islamabad: Out-of-turn govt houses allotment goes unchecked

[Naveed Yaseen]

The Committee formed to recommend allotment of government houses is not pursuing its objectives, as out-of-turn allotment is being made, setting aside the general waiting list.

Soon after assuming charge, Minister for Housing & Works Rehmatullah Kakar imposed a ban on allotment of houses to sort out modalities for house allotment according to the general waiting list and formed a committee to oversee the allotment.

The minister had directed the officials to resolve the housing problems of the federal government employees, particularly the low-paid ones, and stop out-of-turn allotment.

He also directed the officials to display the general waiting list on the ministry’s website to ensure transparency.

But after a passage of around seven months, no concrete criteria has been made to allot houses according to the general waiting list, said an aggrieved employee, who has been waiting for official accommodation since 1988.

He said government houses are being allotted out-of-turn to those employees who only have few years of service to their credit while those having more than 20 years of service are still waiting for their turn.

Most of the employees alleged that the Ministry of Housing and its attached department, the Estate Office, have been famous for reported irregularities in the allotment procedure in the past.

According to official sources, Rehmatullah Kakar after assuming charge formulated a new allotment policy. Under the new policy approved by the Cabinet, all new allotments will be made in accordance with the rules and regulations.

According to the new policy, 90 per cent of the allotments will be made on the basis of seniority and length of service of the government employees while the rest will be allotted on out-of-turn basis.

A committee headed by Ministry of Housing & Works joint secretary and deputy secretary, estate officer and joint estate officer as members has been constituted, which would finalise the general waiting list after which government accommodation would be allotted, sources said.

It is mentioned here that there is an acute shortage of government accommodation in the federal capital, as 17,421 government employees are awaiting official accommodation and the rush of people seeking houses is rising day by day.

Despite repeated attempts, the joint secretary of Ministry of Housing & Works and the estate officer were not available for official comments.

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