ISLAMABAD, Jan 5 The number of government employees placed on the general waiting list for allotment of official residences has swelled to about 22,000. They will be allotted government accommodation on the basis of merit/seniority.

Estate officer Mohammad Ali Shah told this reporter that the general waiting list has been restored and about 50 government employees have been allotted official accommodation on seniority basis.

According to the new allotment policy, 50 per cent houses/flats and quarters have been kept for the general waiting list whereas 25 per cent each for the minister's quota and hardship cases.

It has been learnt that A, B, C, D and E-type houses/flats and quarters have been placed on the general waiting list.

An official of the housing ministry said that the Federal Housing Minister Rehmatullah Kakar has issued directives to strictly follow general waiting list while making allotments.

The estate office has only 16,000 housing units whereas the number of government employees entitled for official accommodation runs into 100,000. This is the reason that residence is the biggest problem for government servants in the federal capital.

Rents of private houses are too high to be paid by government employees out of their meager salaries. This wide gap in the available housing units and large number of employees scare most of the servants away and they even did not apply for government residence.

While a small number of employees are the luckiest to get a house/flat/quarter allotted as thousands of them retire from service waiting for allotment.

Apart from this, thousands of houses are in the illegal occupation of retired people, unentitled employees and those having connections with the high-ups which has further compounded the problem.

More than 100 houses/flats and quarters have been illegally occupied by police personnel. It has been learnt that most of the illegal occupants even do not pay the concessional monthly rent and standard rent causing millions of rupees loss to the national exchequer. Hollow claims that these illegal occupants would be dislodged have been made for years but all proved to be only verbal commitments which cannot be translated into practice.

The present government has launched new housing schemes in Islamabad and other cities through which people would be provided houses/flats on ownership basis. The ministry officials believe this will solve the complicated accommodation issue.