The members of National Assembly Standing Committee on Housing and Works expressing reservations over the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) scandal said that they would tender resignations en bloc if the Prime Minister and the Speaker did not take serious notice on the wrong doings of the society.
The committee met at Parliament House on Wednesday. Committee Chairman Pervaiz Khan and members took serious notice of the absence of Minister for Housing and Works and Secretary Housing. The members protested on sending low-ranking ministerial representative defying the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.
The committee observed that the FGEHF violated the rules and acquired land for 80 plots in four villages of Bara Kahu for low paid government servants. The members said that the FGEHF must acquire land at one place for launching a housing scheme. The members said that the ministry is using delaying tactics for not attending the committee meetings as this is third time that the concerned ministry did not respond in a positive manner.
The committee observed that only 10 plots were given to deserving employees while 70 plots were allotted to senior bureaucrats. The committee decided to bring all these violations into the knowledge of National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani. They also decided to tender en bloc resignations if the Speaker and Prime Minister did not take notice of the scandal.
The Chairman directed the housing ministry to streamline the process of allotment of plots to low ranking officials and make it more transparent. Reliable sources told Business Recorder that the FGEHF has allotted as many as 70 plots to senior bureaucrats of health, education and law departments.
They said that plots were also allotted to high officials of Income Tax and Police department. MNAs Lieutenant General Abdul Baloch (Retd), Syed Allaoud-Din, Tariq Mahmood Bajwa, Mahmood Hayat Khan Tochi Khan, Tariq Shabbir, Nazir Ahmed Bughio, Saima Akhtar Bharwana, Nosheen Saeed and other officials of the ministry attended the meeting.