'Send in forensic experts to investigate LDA Plaza fire'

DCO and LDA at loggerheads over cause of fire.


Our Correspondent July 03, 2013
“It seems a conspiracy. Why were those high-rise files lying on the seventh floor, which is to be demolished?” says DCO. PHOTO: REUTERS

LAHORE:


DCO Naseem Sadiq has asked the chief minister to send in forensics experts to investigate the causes of a small fire on the seventh floor of the LDA Plaza that he believes was part of a conspiracy to destroy high rise building records, despite the LDA’s denials.


In a letter to the CM’s principal secretary on July 1, the DCO suggested that the CM’s Inspection Team, which is already investigating the LDA Plaza inferno of May 9 that killed 26 people, also look at last Saturday’s brief fire, with help from the Forensic Science Agency.

“Getting the best forensic experts to lead the investigation would build public trust,” he told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. About the Saturday fire, he said: “It seems a conspiracy. Why were those high-rise files lying on the seventh floor, which is to be demolished?”

The DCO’s allegations about the fire are sure to have upset the LDA – of which Sadiq is chairman. In a statement on Monday, the LDA said CCTV footage of the incident suggested that the fire was caused by a short circuit. It said the files had been left over at the site from the May 9 fire and not brought in from outside. Further, the files were not related to high-rise buildings, it said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2013.

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