THERE are schemes and policies about housing and real estate for serving and retired civilians and government employees, but no such scheme entertains the needs of the heirs of a deceased government servant who deserves the most in this regard. My point is not limited to only housing facilities for deceased servants’ families.

My father served in a leading government organisation for 33 years. He was acclaimed both at the national and the international level because of his excellent contribution towards agricultural research and development. The case presented below is just one example in this regard.

My father got the membership of the Pakistan Housing Authority in 2007 through paying its membership fee. He was a Grade-20 officer at the time. The then government planned to provide land on easy installments to government employees in specified areas. However, that could not materialise and the scheme remained somewhat inactive for the past eight years. My father suffered from an illness and had to retire prematurely in 2013 with three years of his service still remaining. Owing to his illness, he died last November.

The scheme has been initiated again and the last date for membership renewal was Feb 28. It provided hope to our family as we thought this was an opportunity to stay in line for getting housing facility in future.

However, this hope was cut short when we came to know that the scheme is invalid for deceased employees whose families cannot renew their membership. This shocked our family, especially my mother.

So many families have to leave their abode and shift back to their native towns because they can’t afford the ever-escalating house rent. Their children can’t continue with their studies.

The prime minister and authorities concerned should resolve our problem at the earliest.

Aneela Nafees

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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