KARACHI: Members of Senate’s Standing Committee on Housing and Works here on Monday took strong exception to encroachments and unauthorised modifications made in the residential apartments at Federal Government Employees Colony located at Garden Road.
Committee Chairman Maulana Tanvirul Haq Thanvi along with Senators Khalida Perveen and Saeedul Haasan Mandokhel visited and reviewed the prevalent situation in the colony, located at one of the oldest areas of the metropolis.
The senators were also personally approached by many of the residents who discussed matters related to civic facilities, as well as encroachments around and on the premises, with them. Senator Thanvi responding to the complaints about delay in allotment of flats to the officials, transferred to Karachi from other parts of the country, directed the estate officer to get the issue efficiently and promptly handled.
No employee of the federal government must be made to suffer due to mismanagement or poor implementation of relevant rules and regulations, he said.
The Senate committee members also urged the officials concerned to get the ongoing residential projects completed for serving employees of federal government transferred to serve in the metropolis. “They must be facilitated in accordance with government rules so that their professional obligations towards masses are not compromised,” said Senator Thanvi.
Housing and Works Federal Secretary Shahrukh Arbab and Estate Joint Secretary Asmatullah Shah were also present on the occasion.
Earlier, chairing a briefing given to the members of the committee Thanvi said that sensitivities involved in getting federal government property evacuated in Karachi must not be ignored.
Retired employees of the federal government or widows of deceased officials, residing in federal government owned residential quarters scattered across the metropolis, must be facilitated to move out from public property, he said.
Estate Officer Obaiduddin informed the committee members that a sum of Rs3.26 billion remained outstanding against the retired employees or their widows who had yet to vacate government quarters. Mentioning the surge in encroachments on federal government properties, he said that a survey is being planned following which proper action could be initiated against the people involved in encroachments. The estate officer also said that an action plan was also needed to recover dues from those residing in these quarters for years, in absolute violation of government rules.
