Rickshaws, pushcarts gutted

Clouds of black fumes covered the skies in Liaquat Colony area of Hyderabad on Tuesday afternoon as raging blazes swept through a huge junkyard, a parking facility, a cottage industry and a cattle pen besides causing explosions in cylinders of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Fortunately, no casualty occurred in the incident as confirmed by Mayor Kashif Ali Shoro and Deputy Commissioner Zaindul Abedin Memon.

According to the officials, the fire started from the junkyard which was filled with hundreds of bags containing used plastic, glasses and metal objects. The triggering point of flames is still not known but the losses are initially assessed to be in millions of rupees as at least three cars, 15 rickshaws, two loader rickshaws, a four-seater rickshaw and over half a dozen push carts in the parking stand were completely or partially burnt as well.

The fire tenders of Rescue 1122, Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) were rushed to the scene to battle the blazes. According to the Mayor, the first call about the fire was received at 4.06 pm and, he claimed, in the next 10 minutes the fire tenders reached the place, located along the Phuleli canal. The explosions occurred in the cylinders which were fitted in those vehicles.

A large crowd of people gathered near the site of the fire in the aftermath, impeding the movement of fire tenders. The mayor later urged them to clear the roads.

An MPA of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Rashid Khan, while talking to the media at the site suspected that the fire might have been started by someone because the plot on which the incident occurred is in dispute between two persons. "The matter should be impartially investigated and its FIR should also be lodged," he demanded. He lamented the unlawful business of selling substandard LPG cylinders and refilling LPG in the vehicles is also continuing unabated.

"LPG shops were operating on the other side of the wall [where the fire broke]. If the blazes had engulfed those shops another May 30 Paretabad tragedy [which had claimed 27 lives last year] could have occurred," the MPA cautioned. The DC Hyderabad, who along with the Mayor and SSP Adeel Chandio, supervised the firefighting and rescue operations, later shifted all the cylinders placed in those LPG shops out of the place.

"Three different reasons of fire are being told but we will be able to figure it out once the fire is doused," the DC told the media. It took firefighters four hours to douse the flames.

The mayor added that the full extent of losses will also be assessed post-firefighting. Regarding LPG cylinder explosions, the DC criticized the Civil Defence for failing to act against illegal traders, despite SOPs and the closure of 135 unlicensed shops after a previous incident.

He accused Civil Defence officials, particularly the often absent Additional Controller Mehrab Khaskheli (against whom a complaint was lodged in September 2024), of lacking enforcement and potentially colluding with violators. The DC noted that OGRA had delegated authority to DCs and ACs in April 2024 to regulate LPG shops, covering pricing, equipment, vehicle filling, decanting, and unauthorized sales.