Public Seems Unsatisfied With Postal Rest Houses' Living Facilities

With showing immense interest in postal rest houses, public also seemed unsatisfied with the living standards they were offering as the existing conditions were not sufficient enough to cater the needs of tourists

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Sep, 2019 ) :With showing immense interest in postal rest houses, public also seemed unsatisfied with the living standards they were offering as the existing conditions were not sufficient enough to cater the needs of tourists.

Opened for public in May this year, this affordable renting facility was pulling the tourists in bulk from across the country but management could offer booking for only few stations because most of them were in obsolete condition and were not safe to stay in, an official source told APP.

He said people have been complaining about the unavailability of running water, sanitation and obsolete structure as it was a risk to lend these places for public to stay.

He said various stations specially two stations in Karachi, two in Lahore, one in Gilgit ( Sust) and one in Skardu were highly demanded by public, however, conditions of these rest houses were not up to the mark and cannot be offered as rental facility.

Officials informed that having the best living conditions, stations in Murree and Rawalpindi have generated income of Rs 2,079,400 in just 40 days. "More people wanted to visit tourist places due to which the rest houses were being booked in advance till September with the most booking were being received for Murree and Rawalpindi", he added.

To a question he said that our ministry was making efforts to improve the condition of these rest houses alongside the aim to build new motels under the supervision of department.

When asked about the complaint structure for these rest houses, an official of Federal ombudsman told APP that total of 539 complaints have been received against Pakistan Post regarding its different services out of which 497 have been resolved in last quarter. He said that most of these complaints were about the delivery system and living facilities in postal houses.

Pakistan post had opened around 40 rest houses earlier this year at different destinations across the country to cater to domestic and foreign tourists.

These rest houses have been divided into three categories, A category were located in�Karachi,�Multan,�Jhelum,�Mianwali,�Rawalpindi,�Peshawar, Nathia Gali, Hyderabad,� Sukkur, Shadman�Lahore,�Lahore�Cantt,�Sialkot�General�Post�Office (GPO), Sialkot�Cantt, Faislabad GPO and�Quetta. Fare for these rest houses will be 3,000 per day.

Similarly, per day rent of the B category rest houses in Attock, Murree GPO,�Gujrat,�Sargodha, Layyah,�Chitral,�Abbottabad, Ayubia,�Kohat,�DI Khan,�Mirpurkhas, Sorab, Amri, Taftan, Qallat, Muzzaffarbad,�Mirpur,�Kotli,�Gilgit, Sust and�Skardu�will be Rs 2,200.

While for rest houses in Pindi Point�Murree,�Saidu�Sharif,�Bannu,�Ziarat�and�Sialkot�Cantt, which fell in the C category, per day �rent � of Rs1,200 has been fixed.