ISLAMABAD, May 13: Teachers living in rented houses in the federal capital have not been paid hiring allowance for the last over two years and there seems no solution to the issue as both the Finance Division and the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) have refused to take responsibility.

On the other hand, the amount needed to clear the backlog of the allowance has crossed the mark of Rs1,017 million, Dawn has learnt.A delegation of teachers recently met Liaquat Munir Rao, an adviser in the Finance Division, and raised the issued with him.

However, instead of giving any assurance, he refused to release any amount.

He even directed his subordinate staff to write to CADD to hold an inquiry to find out why the teachers were allowed to hire houses if there were no funds available.

When Yasmeen Bokhari, the vice-president of Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCRA) and a member of the delegation, asked the adviser about a solution to the issue, he said the teachers could get house rent instead. “The house rent of teachers ranges between Rs3,000 to Rs5,000 whereas no portion of a house in Islamabad is available for less than Rs20,000 per month,” said Ms Bokhari.

But when the teachers approached Joint Secretary CADD Noor Zaman, he said there was no need of an inquiry as no rule had been violated in allowing the teachers to hire houses.

Professor Tahir Mahmood, the general secretary of FGCTA, said the educators had been suffering due to bureaucratic red tape.

“All employees serving under the federal government are entitled to hire private houses as per defined rates. This facility is available to all government servants in different departments but teachers working under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) are facing a different dilemma,” he said.

Ms Bokhari added that at the end of next month funds allocated for different projects would lapse. “Billions of rupees are misused every year on fake repair of vehicles, consumption of petrol, purchase of furniture and stationery but there is always no budget to pay hiring allowance to the poor teachers,” she complained.

She also said employees working in other government offices never faced any difficulty in availing themselves of the opportunity. “While the teachers have not been paid the rent ceiling for many years, their counterparts in other departments have even got advance payments of rent,” she said.

Professor Khalida Makhdoom said teachers who had been paying the rent of houses by taking loans from their relatives or banks were facing severe problems.

The teachers appealed to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to direct the departments concerned to release funds to clear the backlog of rent.

When contacted, Joint Secretary CADD Prof Rafique Tahir said he had recently returned from abroad and would now handle the situation. He said the Finance Division had assured them that in the next budget sufficient amount would be allocated for the ceiling allowance of teachers.