Property loss: Shopping plaza gutted in Faisalabad fire

Rescue 1122 officials say short-circuiting caused the incident

FAISALABAD: A shopping plaza was engulfed in flames here on Sunday.

According to Rescue 1122 officials, Ripal Plaza, owned by Haji Shams, caught fire due to a short-circuit. The double-storey plaza near Faisalabad’s D-Ground has more than two dozen shops.

Rescue 1122 firefighters were able to contain the blaze after three hours of hectic effort. The officials placed the damage from the blaze at about Rs20 million. They maintained, however, that the firefighters were able to prevent Rs50 million in additional damage. No loss of life was reported in the incident.

Recalling the incident, shopkeeper Naeem Ahmad said he evacuated people from his garments shop after hearing someone yell ‘fire’. “When I came out, I saw the plaza was engulfed in an intense flame which was spreading very fast.”

“I called Rescue 1122 for help but the firefighters took a long time reaching the site… most shops were already burnt by then,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Ripal Plaza shopkeepers protested against the owner of the building, blaming him for using sub-standard material in the plaza’s electric wiring.

“We had asked the plaza’s owner to replace the wiring with better quality material in order to prevent any untoward incident, but he paid no heed to our requests,” said Naseem Hussain, another shopkeeper.

Ripal Plaza’s owner, however, blamed shopkeepers: “We used high quality material for the plaza’s wiring, but the shopkeepers used substandard extensions, which caused the short-circuit.”

Police have not taken action against anyone and termed the incident an accident.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2012.