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Apart from being entitled to an official residence, it seems misery is also one of the many perks enjoyed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s government employees.
While the number of workers swells and applications pile up, the government has not introduced a single housing project for its staffers in the last four decades.
Be it a basic right of every government employee, owning an official residence is an achievement at a time when the already small number is allotted against bribes. Like every other sector, the administration department is also marred by political influence and nepotism.
Although the existing officers’ colonies are in a dilapidated condition, officials say people are willing to grease palms with as much as Rs0.1 million to obtain the keys to any of the colony apartments. While secretary-level officers are accommodated swiftly, employees of lower cadres run from pillar to post throughout their careers for allotment. Although a circular put up in the estate section of the administration department reads the Supreme Court of Pakistan has prohibited out-of-turn, preferential allotment, murky deals are made smoothly under the table.
27 years in line
One such official shared his grievances with The Express Tribune. Information department director Shuaibuddin said he joined service in 1986 and submitted an application for an apartment in 1988.
“The estate officer, whose office I would frequent hoping to see my name on the list, is now a secretary in the Auqaf department,” he said. Over the years he went up the ranks while I am yet to receive my allotment orders, the director said. “I will retire from service in two years,” he remarked, leaving the rest to our imagination.
Haves and have-nots
Establishment department officer Abdul Rasheed said the fate of occupied apartments is decided even before the tenant has vacated the place. Talking to The Express Tribune, Rasheed said his eight-member family has been living in a two-room government apartment for the last 20 years. “I cannot even entertain guests over a cup of tea due to the shortage of space,” he said, adding his application for a three-room apartment has been pending for two decades now.
Cutting to size
When approached for a comment, administration secretary Hassan Mehmood Yousufzai said the government’s workforce consists of over 350,000 staffers.
“Over 7,000 applications are pending just from Peshawar while we have only 1,401 residences to manage with,” he said. Yousufzai said work on new projects is under way and 58 new luxury apartments will be up for grabs within a few months.
The secretary said old residences are being demolished and converted into smaller housing units. “Two houses in the Race Course area have been broken down into five,” he said, adding the second phase of development in Civil Quarters will begin next year.
“The government introduced a new allocation policy in January,” he said, assuring merit and need will be prioritised in all future allotments.
“Only recently residence allotments of 35 officers were cancelled over a violation of rules,” he said, urging all government employees to report any misappropriation found in the estate office.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2015.
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