A parliamentary panel on Monday took notice of a lingering issue pertaining to allotment of plots to Pakistan Railways' workers at Jumma Goth, Sindh and directed concerned authorities to submit a detailed report in the next meeting.
A sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Railways headed by Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi expressed concern over non allotment of plots, given way back in 1986 by the current Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when he was railway minister in the cabinet of the then prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo during military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq's regime.
The panel, which issued directives to authorities concerned to resolve the issue at the earliest, as the workers have been moving from pillar to post since long, observed that according to the facts the then management of Pakistan Railways was involved in the malpractice.
The secretary of the housing society informed the committee that railway workers, who have made all the payments, were still waiting for the allotment letters due to lack of interest by the successive governments. "When Zia regime ended, no government took the issue seriously despite knowing that the poor workers deserve help," he lamented.
This is pertinent to mention here that in 1986, the incumbent prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani when he was railway minister had launched a housing scheme in Jumma Goth, located between Port Qasim and Landhi, namely Jumma Goth No-15 Gulshan-e-Yousaf Housing Scheme for railway workers.
In 1986, total 3,500 workers out of 10,000 got their plots through lucky draw held at railway football stadium in Karachi. According to the scheme, the winning workers were awarded 120 yards plot each on which they had to pay Rs7,800 in four instalments and Rs15,000 for the plot measuring 240 yards.
The scheme was initiated for the workers from grade-1 to 16, and the land was the property of railway department but later the Railway Housing Society (RHS) bought the said land from the department and had paid the full payment in this regard. The plots were to be allotted to the winners of the lucky draw after completion of the development works, and the works had been completed in 1990. But so far despite passage of more than two and half decades, the plots have not been handed over to the workers.
Secretary Infrastructure Pakistan Railways told the committee that the society land was granted on lease and lease was about to end. The convenor of the committee asked the Secretary Infrastructure PR to submit all documents related to the society including it lease agreement and its cancellation on completion of lease period.