Plan afoot to force out retired employees from govt quarters in Islamabad

Islamabad : The Ministry of Housing and Works is planning to vacate government quarters in the federal capital by forcing out the retired and relatives of late employees.

The plan was being devised in line with the directives of Minister for Housing and Works Maulana Abdul Wasay, who was making serious efforts to address accommodation issues of the government servants, sources in the Estate Office told this agency. Assistance from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Estate Office was also sought for the purpose, they added.

The ministry, they said, was considering legal action against the encroachments and illegally constructed structures in government residences in the federal capital. Strict action would be taken against the construction of extra rooms by the employees and their kith and kin, who had been living in government allotted houses, they added. At present, the sources said, over 17,000 government houses in Islamabad were under the management of the Estate Office and additional rooms had illegally been constructed by the allottees in over 2,400 residences.

The basic purpose of the operation was to purge the government residences of encroachments. They further said in the recent operations, the Estate Office had so far vacated around 2,837 government properties from illegal occupants and handed them over to the entitled persons across the country.

The CDA and other relevant departments of the provincial governments had helped the Estate Office to vacate government properties. To a question, they said that over 25,000 government employees were currently on the general waiting list to get accommodation, but they could not be provided with the same as retired employees, their relatives, and relatives of even late government employees continued to live in the government quarters.

About the criteria of allotments, they said that Estate Office was strictly allocated to the government employees on the basis of merit and as per apex court directions relaxation of rules under Rule 29A of the Accommodation Allocation Rules, 2002 except in the case of hardship.