SIALKOT, July 31: The district labour department has issued show-cause notices to over 28 allottees of Allama Iqbal Labour Colony for renting out their flats. Sialkot Executive District Officer (Community Development) Javaid Gul stated this while talking to this correspondent here on Tuesday.

He said the Punjab Workers Welfare Board (PWWB) had allotted as many as 504 residential flats to Sialkot-based labourers and industrial workers on a fixed rent of Rs150 per month per flat.

Instead of shifting to the labour colony, he said a number of workers had rented out their flats at the rate of Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 per month.

The EDO said the labour department had conducted a survey and issued notices to 28 such workers.

He said the practice had also created some moral and social problems for dwellers of the colony.

Located on main Sialkot-Pasrur Road, the Allama Iqbal Labour Colony was inaugurated by Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on April 4, 2005. It was learnt that bogus allotments were also made by some industrialists in the colony. However, commercial flats had not been allotted by the authorities concerned.

The colony reportedly lacked facilities like drinking water, proper health, education and boundary wall.

The provincial government had also planned establishment of a community centre, dispensary and a primary school in the colony, but there seemed to be no suitable land available for these projects in the scheme.

Meanwhile, a number of workers who were living along with their families in the colony have expressed their concern over the practice and demanded steps in this regard.