‘Rs1m for heirs of blaze victims’
Workers are feared dead as smoke billows inside the factory, fire brigade officials said. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Sindh government has announced a compensation of Rs1 million for the heirs of people who died in the fire at a chemical factory in the Mehran Town of the Korangi Industrial Area.
Sindh Government Spokesperson and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Administrator Murtaza Wahab, on Saturday arrived in Dhobi Ghat area of Lyari to meet and offer his condolences to the bereaved families of those killed in Mehran Town Korangi tragedy.
"The Sindh government stand with the heirs [of the martyrs] in this hour of grief," Wahab said while announcing a compensation of Rs1 million for relatives of each martyr. The KMC administrator while talking to the heirs said that the Sindh government will extend all possible cooperation to them. "The party leadership also directed that the family members should not be left alone," he said, adding the best medical care was being provided to the injured persons.
SBCA officers suspended
Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has suspended its three officers, including assistant director, senior building inspector and building inspector for not taking action against the illegal factory built on a residential plot.
An inquiry committee has been formed comprising three senior SBCA directors. It will investigate those responsible for approving the building plan. The inquiry report will be submitted to the SBCA director general within seven days.
Opposition riles Sindh govt
Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh on Saturday held the provincial government responsible for a fire incident in a factory in which 16 workers lost their lives. He demanded the registration of a murder case against the Sindh CM and other ministers concerned.
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Sheikh reached at Mehran Town area of Korangi district along with MPA Raja Azhar, PTI district President in Korangi Gohar Khattak, and others to condole with the bereaved family of Kashif - one of the victims of the incident. The PTI leaders offered fateha for the labourers who lost their lives in the sad incident and assured the affected families of their assistance.
The mother of a victim Kashif complained that fire tenders arrived at the scene after two hours, While speaking to the media she appealed for justice to affected families and said that there was no arrangement for extinguishing fire in the factory while all the entry and exit points were locked.
"It was not an accident but a planned conspiracy," she alleged adding that when neighbours tried to break the locks or windows watchmen of the factory resisted them and kept them at bay. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi Amir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman met and offered condolences to the families and relatives of the seven residents of Dhobi Ghat, Lyari, who died in the inferno.
He said that the death of 17 people including three brothers of the same family is a great tragedy. The Sindh government should explain how such a large factory can be set up illegally in a residential area, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2021.