2 days ago
Chandigarh: 322 houses vacant but PGI staff await allotment
As many as 322 government quarters meant for staff at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) are lying vacant even as 847 employees are in the waitlist for allotment, an RTI has revealed. PGI accommodates its staff in Sector 12 and 24 but due to the long wait list, the employees are having to put up in rented places nearby, often at a high cost. (HT File)
The vacant houses include those meant for faculty as well as non-teaching staff, with nursing officers and others belonging to Group B and C having the longest list of employees awaiting house allotment.
PGI accommodates its staff in Sector 12 and 24 but due to the long wait list, the employees are having to put up in rented places nearby, often at a high cost.
The RTI, filed by Ashwani Munjal, chairperson of the joint action committee of the PGI contractual workers, shows several houses have remained unallotted since 2017. Yet, the house allotment committee (HAC), which is responsible for distributing them, has met only once in 2025, on July 30, after an 11-month gap since its previous meeting in September 2024.
During this meeting, chaired by Prof Arun Kumar Aggarwal, 12 houses were allotted. But the orders for recommendation were passed on August 12, ironically the same day when the response to the RTI was provided. The RTI query was filed on July 9.
Delay in fitness report from engg dept
The major reason behind the delay in house allotment appears to be the irregular meetings of HAC but the engineering department's failure to provide timely fitness reports for each house is equally to be blamed for the backlog. A letter from the estate branch dated June 16, 2025, noted that while the list of vacant houses had been shared with the engineering department, it had not received the fitness reports. Without these, allotments could not be done.
Munjal said that this delay was causing a huge loss to the government exchequer. Not only is PGI missing out on the licence fees and monthly rent from allotted houses, but it is also paying 20% of the basic pay as House Rent Allowance (HRA) to eligible staff each month.
Despite repeated attempts, PGIMER director Dr Vivek Lal and deputy director administration Pankaj Rai did not comment. The official spokesperson said that a fact-finding exercise would be needed before providing an explanation.
