A hundred and ten cases
have gone to court in the last five years regarding the
‘occupation’ of official residences in government
housing colonies, The Fact has learnt.
The Punjab government has a huge backlog of applications
for government housing. Officials in the welfare wing
of the Services and General Administration Department,
which deals with government housing matters, said 2,861
applicants are on the waiting list under the Punjab government’s
house allotment policy of 1997, while just 1,448 officers
were allocated residences in the last nine years.
The housing shortage is also acute in GOR-1, which is
for officers of BS-20 and above. A Punjab government policy
allows senior bureaucrats to keep their official residences
for certain periods after they are transferred.
Ismail Qureshi, federal secretary for food and agriculture,
Mian Jamil, federal secretary for housing, Humayun Farshori,
federal secretary for planning and development, Tariq
Mahmood, federal secretary for communications, Kamran
Lashari, chairman of the Central Development Authority,
and Khawaja Siddique Akbar, former director general of
anti-corruption, still have their old official houses
after being transferred from the provincial to the federal
government, according to the sources.
Under the policy, officers of the All Pakistan Unified
Group (APUG), which consists of District Management Group
officers of BS-20 and above, can keep their residences
for three years after their transfer from the province
or district. District coordination officers, district
police officers and district and sessions judges can keep
their houses for two years after transfer. Officers of
BS-19 can keep their houses for one year after transfer.
Every other government employee is allowed up to eight
months to vacate official residences after their transfer.
There have also been cases of officers keeping two residences
at a time in GOR-1. The Punjab chief secretary, Kamran
Rasool, kept the residence he was allocated as provincial
education secretary as a camp office for some four months
after his appointment. His official residence as chief
secretary is at 9 Aikman Road. Another government rule
allows the family of a serving government employee to
keep an official residence for five years after the employee’s
death, or up to the date of his retirement, whichever
comes first.
The welfare wing officials gave examples of three officers
who had kept their official residences for more than five
years after their transfer from Punjab or their retirement.
Their cases are in court. They said Rana Maqbool Ahmad,
former Lahore deputy inspector general, and Syed Aftab
Ahmad Shah, former additional secretary, had kept their
residences after their transfers, while Ghulam Abass Jalvi,
former director general of agriculture, had kept his house
after retirement.
The education secretary, education special secretary,
information technology secretary, law and parliamentary
affairs secretary, and local government and rural development
special secretary live in private residences, though they
are entitled to official houses.
All members of the Punjab cabinet are entitled to houses
in GOR-1, but only eight Punjab ministers have them. They
are Arshad Khan Lodhi (agriculture), Col (r) Malik Muhammad
Anwar (cooperatives), Khadim Hussain Wattoo (zakat and
ushr), Syed Raza Ali Gillani (housing and urban development),
Dr Ashfaqur Rehman (forestry), Raja Muhammad Basharat
(law and local government), Armaghan Subhani (power) and
Muhammad Ejaz Shafi (Baitul Maal). The other 32 ministers,
four special assistants to the chief minister, five advisors
to the chief minister, and ten advisors to the Punjab
government instead get a Rs 20,000 per month rent allowance.
The sources said that since the house allotment policy
was drawn up in 1997, the welfare wing had received 721
applications from officers of BS-1 to BS-4, of which 40
were accommodated; 1,003 applications from BS-5 to BS-8
of which 110 were accommodated; 716 from BS-9 to BS-14,
269 accommodated; 1,022 from BS-15 to BS-17, 340 accommodated;
277 from BS-18 officials, 230 accommodated; 379 from BS-19
officials, 280 accommodated; 109 applications from BS-20
and above officials, 99 accommodated; and 82 applications
from A+ category (administrative secretaries and high
court judges) officials, of which 77 were accommodated.
The provincial government plans to construct a GOR-6 near
Children’s Hospital on Ferozepur Road for low-grade
employees to ease the housing shortage. It has also expressed
an interest in Appna Ghar, a federal government housing
plan (developed in the tenure of former prime minister
Nawaz Sharif), sources said.
There are currently five GORs in Lahore: GOR-1 on The
Mall, GOR-2 at Bahawalpur House, GOR-3 in Shadman, GOR-4
in Model Town Telephone Extension and GOR-5 in Faisal
Town near Jinnah Hospital. There are five other government
housing colonies: Chauburji Garden Estate, Wahdat Colony,
Poonch House, Allama Iqbal Town Huma Block and Gohar Town
employees’ flats.
The Punjab government gives Rs 414, Rs 425.25, Rs 438.75,
Rs 452.25, Rs 465.75, Rs 479.25, Rs 492.75, Rs 513, Rs
533, Rs 553.50, Rs 573.75, Rs 609.75, Rs 648, Rs 688.50,
Rs 729 and Rs 843.75 respectively in housing allowances
to officials of BS-1 to BS-16. The Punjab additional chief
secretary was unavailable for comment.
