Building collapse incident: Families demand justice for their lost ones

Huge number of residents attended funeral prayers after protest

LAHORE: Families of the victims who lost their lives in an incident of three-storey building collapse at Dehli Gate on Saturday staged a protest against police and authorities.

They placed their dead bodies on Band Road, blocked traffic and demanded justice for the death of their loved ones. However, they ended their protest when officers of the police and walled city authority reached there and assured the provision of justice.

Later, their funeral prayers were offered at Mochi Gate. Huge numbers of residents of nearby area had attended the funeral prayers. An atmosphere of grief had prevailed in the area. Moving scenes were seen on the occasion as relatives of the victims were seen crying.

Victim Ghulam Abbass who along with his wife and two sons had passed away in the incident had taken the building on mortgage few months back. The building was in a dilapidated condition.

Representative of Walled City Authority said that they had issued notices many a times to the owner of the house but he ignored it.

An FIR against the owner of the building was also registered at Akbari Gate police station. SHO Arshad Mehmood Butter said that FIR was registered under section 288 (Negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings) and 322 (Punishment for qatlbis-sabab) of Pakistan Penal Code on complaint of Muhammad Usman, an assistant director of Walled City Authority. Police were yet to make any arrest in the incident.

Six persons including four of a single family, three minors had died when a three-storey building had collapsed at Delhi Gate on Saturday morning.

The incident occurred when Ghulam Abbas along with his wife Mariam and three sons was asleep in the morning. All the family members and two passersby, a minor school going girl and her father, were trapped under. Only a minor boy, Sabih Hassan, was recovered safely. However, bodies of six persons were recovered after a rescue operation that continued for seven hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2018.