Housing shortage: Too many MPAs to please

Accused of favouritism, speaker cancels allotments.

LAHORE:

There is not enough room to accommodate all the newly elected members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) at the MPAs’ hostels.

There are 344 MPAs and excluding those returned from Lahore (25), virtually everyone wants accommodation at one of the hostels. There are 36 rooms in the MPAs’ Hostel and 40 at the Pipal House. Some rooms at Chamba House are also being allotted to MPAs, a provincial assembly official says.

Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal has been allotting rooms at the MPAs’ Hostel and Pipal House on a first-come-first-served basis. When more MPAs later submitted applications, the speaker kept them pending, leading to protest at early allotments. Some of the MPAs have alleged favouritism.



Last week, the speaker cancelled all allotments, an official close to the situation said. A three-member committee has now been formed to investigate the claims and answer the lawmakers not getting the requested accommodation. However, this has upset MPAs who had already been allotted rooms.

According to an official, the committee has decided to allot the rooms in a draw. The official said the issue would be resolved within a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2013.