June 01, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 31: A ban has been imposed on allotment of government accommodation under the special out-of-turn quota reserved for the federal minister for housing and works, Dawn has learnt.

The ban was imposed on the directives of Federal Minister for Housing and Works Rehmatullah Kakar to avoid exceeding the 10 per cent limit fixed for allotment of houses under his discretionary powers.

“Allotment from the general waiting list (GWL) will, however, continue uninterrupted,” an official of the housing ministry told this reporter.

According to the new allotment policy, 90 per cent of government houses/flats and quarters are placed on the GWL and allotted on the basis of merit/length of service of employees, whereas the remaining 10 per cent are shifted to the special quota reserved for the minister for out-of-turn allotment.

“The housing ministry is under severe pressure regarding allotment of government accommodation, as there is no vacant house left, whereas the number of applicants on the waiting list is rising with each passing day,” sources said. They said that at present there were over 17,000 people on the general waiting list of the estate office. “Due to the wide gap between demand and availability of government houses/quarters, every applicant tries to approach the minister. This put immense pressure on the minister forcing him to impose the ban on allotment from his own quota,” the sources added.

It may be mentioned that the ban on allotment of government accommodation was lifted only a month ago.

Officials said there were about 1,000 people who had been illegally occupying government houses, quarters and flats. More than 800 of these illegal occupants are in Sector G-6 alone. Their number has been increasing, as none of the employees is ready to vacate their official residence after retirement. Sources said some politicians were also backing this occupation (qabza) mafia in order to get political mileage, creating hurdles in the way of smooth working of the estate office.

Sources said a committee headed by joint secretary housing and works with estate officer, joint estate officer as well as deputy secretary of the ministry as its members had been constituted to finalise the general waiting list. After finalisation, the list will be displayed on the website of the ministry. The federal minister for housing has directed the officials of the ministry to resolve the accommodation problems of the federal government employees, particularly the low-paid workers.

The new government after assuming power has planned to build one million low-cost houses, both for government employees and common people throughout the country on an emergency basis to meet the acute shortage of housing units.