Move fireworks warehouses from residential areas: SHC

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court directed on Monday that all fireworks warehouses and factories be relocated away from residential areas.

A two-member bench, led by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and comprising Justice Abdul Rehman, took up a petition filed in connection with the deadly explosion in Al-Amna Plaza on Karachi's MA Jinnah Road last August, which had claimed at least six lives and injured another 30.

According to Karachi South Deputy Commissioner Javed Nabi Khoso report, submitted before the court on Monday, the first licence or a fireworks shop in the building was issued in 1971 by then assistant commissioner of Karachi Cantonment.

The Civil Defence No Objection Certificate (NOC) allows only retailers to keep only 25-30 kilograms of fireworks. But the warehouse in question stored much larger quantities, in violation of the conditions, the court was apprised. The large cache of fireworks directly resulted in the explosion, the bench was told.

All active firework licences and NOCs in the South District were revoked after the explosion at Al-Amna Plaza, Khoso informed the court. Besides, he added, explosives were seized and destroyed by Bomb Disposal Squad while the Karachi Cantonment Board was tasked with examining the damaged structure.

Financial compensation for the victims falls under the Sindh government's jurisdiction, said Khoso.

At least six people were killed and another 30 injured in the blast. The petitioner, mother of one deceased young man, contended through her counsel that illegal godowns in crowded neighbourhoods were a threat to citizens' lives. The authorities have repeatedly ignored complaints against them, maintained the petition.

During the hearing, the petitioner's counsel, advocate Usman Farooq, maintained that Explosives Act 1884 does not permit licences for manufacturing or storing fireworks in public or residential areas. He stressed that locating such warehouses next to schools and densely populated housing blocks was unlawful and dangerous. The court disposed of the petition after recording the DC South's reply, and issued clear directions that fireworks warehouses and factories be shifted "out of" residential areas.