During peak winter season, the people from the hilly areas are shifting towards the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, creating accommodation problems for bachelors, students and working class.

Muhammad Ali, a student living in G-10/3 flats and sharing a room with the allottee, said taking the advantage of my helplessness, the allottee is demanding more rent with the approach of winter.

He said he had no other option but to live in the single room as the twin cities have no proper accommodation facility for working class, bachelors and students.

“The bachelor hostels are also engaged in money-making spree without providing proper facilities to the inhabitants,” he added.

Fiaz Paracha, a labourer, said he has spent a lot of money to shift from one place to other when the room owner refused to allow him a stay anymore.

He demanded of the government for construction of private hostels for the people, coming to the federal capital from far flung areas to find job, study or for business.

“Lack of hostel facilities in the federal capital and sometimes in the universities make them to shuttle between twin cities in search of accommodation,” he added.

Akhter Ahmed, a student said that “we had been lodging at university hostel after paying Rs2,500 per month but after completion of study, we would be unable to find accommodation even in Rs3,000 per head.”

He said rents have been skyrocketing for the last three to four years due to ever increasing inflation but the situation deteriorates when people from hilly areas arrive here and pay rents in advance, leaving no place for poor students and bachelors.

Another student said private hostels charge Rs4,000 to Rs6,000 per head but there too, the administration does not maintain cleanliness and provides unhygienic food.
The News