By Asad Cheema
Islamabad: The much-hyped Naya Pakistan Housing Programme, which is an expression of the promise to provide five million houses to the people, proved a mirage for Quaidabad – a town in Khushab district – as the project was aborted even before it could take off, a report on Wednesday said.
Punjab Housing Minister Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid had inaugurated this venture in June this year while mocking the Ashiana Housing Scheme launched by the last PML-N government. So, 232 locals responded positively to this scheme by depositing the necessary amount to become eligible for balloting as the PTI government had announced that 800 plots would be handed over to the citizens. But now the Punjab government has decided to drop this scheme for Quaidabad.
In this connection, Deputy Director Housing Imtiaz Ahmed said the people submitting call deposit and installment would get their money back. Hence, the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme saga is closed for at least Quaidabad at a time when the promised five million are still invisible in other towns and cities too.
There is another aspect of this story: only 232 people responded positively to the project which perhaps means that the masses are not taking the PTI government seriously for having a long list of unfulfilled promises and claims.
Quaidabad and other parts of Khushab were one of the worst affected areas as they witnessed record floods after a monsoon system dump hundreds of millimetres of rain from western Punjab to Swat and Hazara Division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier this year.
