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ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: The government has allocated a Rs1.164 billion for hiring private houses for the government servants and maintenance of officials residences throughout the country in the current fiscal year, well-informed sources in the Estate Office told Dawn on Thursday.
They said Rs1.108 billion were earmarked for the purpose in 2000-2001. The city-wise allocation of funds during the last financial year was: Islamabad, Rs464.430 million; Rawalpindi, Rs380.716 million, Karachi, Rs115.035 million; Lahore, Rs100.446 million; Peshawar, Rs30.486 million; and Quetta, Rs17.314 million.
For the current financial year, Rs487.671 million have been allocated for Islamabad, Rs399.722 million for Rawalpindi, Rs120.685 million for Karachi, Rs105.485 million for Lahore, Rs32.012 million for Peshawar, and Rs18.258 million for Quetta.
Talking to Dawn, Estate Officer Musa Raza Effendi said the number of people enlisted in the grand waiting list (GWL) for allotment of government houses had crossed over 50,000, but available accommodations in the Capital were 15,000.
The official record of the Estate Office (EO) revealed that a 25,554 government houses were available in the entire country, and the total number of private houses hired by the Estate Office countrywide was 16,997.
The record showed that the number of hired houses in Islamabad was 15,432, while 14,200 private houses had been hired by the EO for government servants.
In Karachi, the number of government houses is stated to be 7,880, and 1,322 private houses have been hired.
Similarly, 1,295 government houses are available in Lahore, and the number of hired houses is stated to be 973.
In Peshawar, 561 officials residents are available, while 280 government employees were residing in the hired accommodations.
The number of government houses in Quetta is 458, and some 522 private houses have been hired by the Estate Office.
HOUSES ALLOTTED: Estate Office has allotted 91 government houses to the employees below grade 16 in the federal capital, official sources told Dawn on Thursday.
They said the houses were allotted through balloting to the members of general waiting list (GWL). The allotment letters were issued to the persons concerned on Thursday.
The government houses, which have been allotted, are of be A, B, C and D type, the sources said.
They said it was the first balloting of officials accommodations conducted by the Estate Office according to the computerized GWL.
The computerized system in this regard has been initiated by the EO on the directives of federal housing minister Abbas Sarfaraz Khan.
A committee was formed, comprising officials of housing ministry and Estate Office, to organize and conduct the balloting.
