An additional district and sessions judge on Saturday directed the Johar Town station house officer (SHO) to record the statement of a petitioner seeking a criminal case against four Lahore Development Authority officials, and the SHO and deputy superintendent of police (DSP) concerned, for the deaths of four labourers in a botched demolition operation on Friday.
Aftab Ahmed Bajwa, counsel for petitioner Mian Shahid Mehmood, a resident of the LDA Employees Housing Society, contended that LDA officials Akram Chaudhry (buildings director), Abdul Razzaq (EME director), Azhar Ali (deputy director for town planning) and Afraz Akhtar (assistant director for town planning) had demolished his house even though it was a legal structure. He said that his client had begged them not to tear down the building, but they told him to leave or be buried in the rubble. During the demolition work, the building collapsed, killing four daily wagers.
Bajwa said his client had applied to the Johar Town SHO, the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court for action against the LDA officials and the police against their “illegal action”, but been ignored. He asked the court to direct the SHO concerned to register a case against the DSP, the Johar Town SHO and the LDA officials.
Compensation
Three of the four dead labourers were identified and their bodies handed over to their families along with compensation cheques of Rs500,000 each on Saturday, but one is yet to be identified.
The bodies were identified as those of Ghulam Nabi, 33, son of Muhamamd Jahangir and a resident of Depalpur tehsil, Okara; Saifullah, 34, a resident of Mominpura, GT Road; and Bashir Ahmad, 60, son of Rahmat Ali and a resident of Chunian, Kasur.
LDA Vice Chairman Aamir Asghar Dar told reporters that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had directed that the LDA give the families of the deceased Rs500,000 each, give the severely injured Rs100,000 each and give the lightly injured Rs50,000 each.
He said that the four LDA officials supervising the demolition operation had been suspended and were being investigated. He said once the inquiry was finished, the LDA would lodge a criminal complaint against those found responsible.
Mushtaq son of Muhammad Ali, Khadim Hussain son of Atta Muhammad, Fahar son of Ghulam Muhammad and Iftikhar son of Muhammad Sadiq were compensated for serious injuries to the tune of Rs100,000 each.
Saeed son of Peer Bakhsh, Azhar Ali son of Muhammad Amin, Muhammad Naeem son of Muhammad Nawab, Munir son of Peer Bakhsh, Kashif Zaman, Afzal, Yousaf son of Sardar, Ahmad Yar son of Ameer Muhammad and Muhammad Qasim son of Shah Muhammad were given cheques of Rs50,000 each.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ