20000121

Estate Office

directed to

allot houses

on merit

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Housing and Works has withdrawn its interference in the allotments of houses to employees from grade 1 to 16.

The ministry has directed the Estate Office to strictly follow the general waiting list of allotment to the employees in order to make these allotments purely on merit.

However, the allotments of the officers from grade 17 and above will be made by the ministry itself, the sources said on Thursday.

The ministry has constituted a committee to consider the deserving cases thoroughly and to decide the allotment on priority basis.

An official of the ministry said there are more than 35,000 employees on the general waiting list and total houses in the federal capital are around 14,000 in various categories.

There is a shortage of houses and the government has no further houses in the capital to accommodate the employees. He pointed out that the entitled employees are more than 55,000. Some of them are living in the government house and most of them in the private accommodations.

The previous governments allotted the houses on politically basis without following the waiting list.

To a question about the houses ceiling, he said, in the past the ministry had submitted proposal to the Finance Division to pay the house ceiling to the employees with their monthly salary. It would overcome the burden on estate office and the employees would be able to obtain accommodation on the rent, he said.

Currently, the goverment pays the amount of ceiling to the owner of the house under the hiring agreement.

He said the Finance Division did not reply and the proposal was turned down because of financial constraints.ÑAPP