November 19, 2006	Sunday	Shawwal 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: A subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works on Saturday recommended an amendment to the allotment rules, seeking discretionary powers for the prime minister to make out-of-turn allotments, only in exceptional cases.

The proposal came in a meeting presided over by Senator Farooq Naek at the Parliament House.

Discussing in detail the housing problems of the federal government employees, the subcommittee took stern notice of the more than 3,400 out-of-turn allotments by Federal Housing Minister Syed Safwanullah, who at present had the authority to take such decisions.

On the occasion, Housing and Works Secretary Abdul Rauf Chaudhry informed the meeting that his ministry was considering various suggestions to resolve accommodation problems being faced by public servants.

He said a proposal had been forwarded to the finance ministry that sought payment of house rent to the government employees with their salaries. Such an arrangement would enable them to hire housing units freely, he added.

Similarly, Mr Chaudhry said, another suggestion was that the government servants be extended official accommodation on ownership basis and the amount then recovered in instalments from their pay.

Meanwhile, the subcommittee directed the police authorities to get the illegally occupied government accommodation in the federal capital vacated in cases where no stay had been granted by the court of law.

It also sought a list of such illegal occupants belonging to other departments from the housing and works ministry.

The meeting recommended that multi-storey residential complexes should be constructed in Sector G-6 and the flats allotted on ownership basis to benefit the government employees.

The meeting was attended by senators Mir Mohabat Khan Marri and Shujaul Mulk, AIG Police Islamabad Shahid Nadeem Baloch, and senior officials of the ministry of housing and works.—Online