Turkish Housing Scheme: Flood affectees to be given houses after balloting

Beneficiaries must have Thatta, Sujawal as their permanent or present address on their CNICs

KARACHI: The 2,120 housing units constructed in Thatta under the Turkish Housing Scheme will be allotted to flood affectees from Thatta and Sujawal after balloting, said Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah on Monday.

The CM said this while presiding over a meeting on the Turkish Housing Scheme, under which housing units have been constructed in Thatta with the support of the Turkish government. Each unit in the housing scheme has two rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, courtyard and veranda. There are two schools with 32 classrooms for primary and secondary education for both boys and girls. It also has a commercial centre with 12 shops, three mosques, two community centres, one health centre and a sports complex.

The CM directed Hyderabad commissioner Qazi Shahid Parvez, Sindh disaster management authority director-general Salman Shah and others to hand over the schools to a well-reputed organisation through education foundations, to provide quality education to the children. Referring to the health centre, the CM asked the commissioner to give its responsibility to the People's Primary Healthcare Initiative, so that it can provide quality health services to the people.

The water supply and drainage system of the housing scheme have been completed, while electricity meters have yet to be installed, the CM was informed at the meeting. As for the shops at the commercial centre, it was decided during the meeting that there will be an open auction in order to ensure the upkeep of the residential facilities.

Approving the criteria for allotment of the housing units, the CM said that the nominees must have Thatta or Sujawal district as their permanent or present address on their computerised national identity cards (CNICs).

There are a total of 36,069 flood affectees, including 13,622 from Thatta and 22,447 from Sujawal. The CM directed the district administrations of Thatta and Sujawal to provide a list of the affectees who had already been provided shelter by the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or international NGOs under various relief and rehabilitation programmes.

The Hyderabad commissioner said that there are 35,284 people who are eligible for the balloting. Lists of eligible candidates were displayed at the offices of the district commissioner, assistant commissioners, mukhtiarkars as well as provincial disaster management authority office. A public notice was also published in May in local and national newspapers, inviting objections from the affectees, if any, who may think that they were left out despite falling within the eligibility criteria.

The CM directed the commissioner to make necessary arrangements for the  balloting to begin.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2016.