LAHORE, July 14: The Punjab government is starting from Thursday registration of all its employees in BS-1 to 22 who are interested in getting houses upon retirement.

The campaign would last till July 30 after which the government would start implementing the Rs10 billion housing project for its employees all over the province.

A decision to this effect was made at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and attended among others by P&D Chairman Salman Ghani, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique and Punjab Government Servants Housing Foundation Managing Director Chaudhry Riaz Ahmad.

The implementation of the project would start from July 30 and the government would develop housing colonies for its employees in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and other cities.

Officials said the chief minister had directed the officials concerned to immediately start deducting instalments for the houses from the salaries of all registered employees.

Those with at least 25 years of service would be given houses upon their retirement without any charges. But those with a shorter service tenure would have to pay the remaining amount in lumpsum. The price would nevertheless be much less than the market rate of the property.

The meeting was informed that Rs592 would be deducted from the monthly salary of registered employees in BS-1 to 5, Rs799 from the salary in BS-8 to 16, Rs1,184 from the salary in BS-17 to 19 and Rs1,776 from the salary in BS-20 to 22.

The chief minister ordered acquisition of land in all cities for development of colonies for government servants. The mega project would also give a boost to the housing industry, providing ample job opportunities to the people, he observed.

He said the government would ensure provision of houses to all its servants so that they could lead an honourable life after retirement. Their colonies would be provided all facilities as well as standard infrastructure, he said.