Uninspired living: Housing lists, as outdated as the structures

Govt employees who died five years ago still have their names on official lists.

ISLAMABAD:

The Estate Office Islamabad has not updated the general seniority list for the allotment of government accommodations for the last many years. The list, which determines the allocation of government houses for its employees, even includes names of those employees who died five years ago.

The Housing Ministry on Tuesday took notice of the issue and gave orders to the department to update the lists.

Responding to a question by MNA Bushra Rehman, Minister for Housing and Works Mukhdoom Shahabuddin told the lower house of the parliament, in a written statement, that the Estate Office is dependent on government departments for provision of information about the status of their employees.

“Sometimes, the information about the death of an official is not received in time. There is a possibility that the employees who died five years ago still have their names on the list,” he said. However, instructions have been issued to the Estate Office for updating the lists.

The minister also informed the house that after approval from the Prime Minister, Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) has offered housing units to officers of federally constituted occupational groups: security agencies, Supreme Court, National Assembly and Senate Secretariat.

“Yes it is a fact that allotments of the plots for housing schemes to be launched by the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) will be made on the basis of category-wise seniority through membership drives in future,” he added.

The prime minister has accorded approval for allocation of sector F-12, Islamabad, to the FGEHF for launching the scheme, it was told in the letter.

However, the possession of the sector has not been given to the housing foundation by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) nor has the required NOC been issued, the minister said.

He said the plots in the said scheme will be allocated for all categories of employees and allotted on the basis of seniority. The scheme, however, can only be launched after the issuance of NOC from CDA, which is under process, he said.

Responding to another question regarding the total number of quarters allotted to government employees
in Islamabad since March 2008 along with the present status of allotment, it was said that 24 government quarters have been allotted to employees in Islamabad who are on the General Waiting List.

He said that the present status of the allotments made are subject to vacation-basis and are indicated in the column title “date of occupation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2011.