LDA plaza: Fire likely caused by short circuit, LDA says

The LDA has dismissed the allegation that the fire at the LDA Plaza was an act of arson aimed at destroying records.

LAHORE:

The LDA has dismissed suggestions from the DCO – its boss – that the fire at the LDA Plaza on Saturday was an act of arson aimed at destroying records.

A press release issued by the LDA PRO said that some files had remained at the seventh floor of the building after the May 9 fire and had not as the DCO had suggested – been brought from outside.

LDA Law Director Ijaz Chaudhry had seen these files at site visits and had photocopied some on Saturday morning. Further, the files were not originals, but copies of files submitted to the courts.

The PRO said cameras and flood lights had been set up at the building’s top floors. The footage showed that at 7.04pm on Saturday, the lights on the seventh floor went out, followed by smoke and fire. This implied that the fire was caused by a short circuit.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2013.