Not taking the hint: Voted out of parliament, ex-MPs refuse to leave lodges

Only 30 of 171 outgoing MNAs have vacated official suites; deadline passed on Monday.

ISLAMABAD:

Some people have a tendency to overstay their welcome. A number of parliamentarians seem to fall into that group. Although the electorate voted most of the previous National Assembly’s members (MNAs) out of parliament, they still occupy their official accommodation.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is reconsidering an option --- one adopted after the formation of last government in 2008 --- to forcibly evict around 141 members of the outgoing National Assembly from Parliament Lodges and the MNA Hostel.

Document available with The Express Tribune shows that of the 171 former MNAs, who lost their seats during the May 11 elections, only 30 have vacated the official accommodations within the given time. Most of the 30 MNAs belong to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Following the elections, the National Assembly Secretariat issued a notice asking the former MNAs to vacate the lodges and MNA Hostel.

“Ex-MNAs must vacate the suites at the Parliament Lodges and the Government Hostel (MNA Hostel) by May 20 after which suites will be vacated forcibly,” the notice says.

In addition to aforementioned locations, some federal ministers are accommodated in 25 suites at the Minister’s Colony.

However, well over a hundred former parliamentarians have chosen to ignore the notification. Given their level of disregard for the official notification, it is no surprise that they lost their seats in the first place.

Parliament Lodges

There are 359 suites in the Parliament Lodges, 83 of which are reserved for members of the Senate, while the other 276 are for MNAs.

Out of these 276 suites, some 80 will be retained by MNAs who were re-elected in recent polls.

Another 60 suites at Parliament Lodges are reserved for women MNAs. Out of 60 reserved suites, 50 will be retained by MNAs who were either elected directly or are on reserved seats.

The total number of suites retained by their current occupants thus comes to 130, leaving 116 suites in Parliament Lodges illegally occupied by former MNAs.



MNA Hostel

There are 36 suites in MNA Hostel’s two blocks. Of the 36, some 11 suites were allotted to government officers and relatives of MNAs. The rest of 25 suites are all in the occupation of MNAs who lost their seats in the recent elections.

So far, not a single suite at the hostel has been vacated by the former MNAs.

The allotment of suites in lodges and the hostel will be done by a committee constituted under the chairmanship of the National Assembly special secretary. A reliable source in the CDA’s directorate for Parliament Lodges said that the committee has not received any application from the newly elected MNAs for allotment of suite at the lodges or the hostel thus far.



CDAs view

A senior CDA official asking not to be named revealed that the situation parallels the post-2008 election scenario. “After the 2008 general elections, we faced a similar situation, when despite the passage of several deadlines, former MNAs did not vacate the accommodations.



It forced us to halt power and water supplies to their suites,” the officer said, adding that the authority would resort to the same tactic if former MNAs did not adhere to the deadline.

CDA Engineering Member Sanaullah Aman told The Express Tribune that the Parliament Lodges Directorate had established a centre to facilitate former and newly elected MNAs. He confirmed that only 30 MNAs had vacated official accommodation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2013.