Feel the heat: Aftermath of PTCL building fire yet to be overcome

Phone and internet lines and ATMs remain suspended.

LAHORE:

Thousands of phones lines and internet connections and online banking in several parts of the country remained suspended on Monday, two days after a fire at Pakistan Telecommunication Limited’s (PTCL) building.

Rescue-1122 said they had put out the fire and cleared the five-story building on Egerton Road.

Citizens reported great difficulties on Monday as help lines of police (15), Rescue-1122, PTCL (1217), Pakistan Railways (117), the Pakistan International Airlines (114) and Edhi (115) remained dead. Jam Sajjad, a spokesman for Rescue-1122, said on average the emergency service responded to 400 calls for help a day. It had, however, responded to only 80 emergencies since the fire broke out on the fourth and the fifth floor of the building late on Saturday.

He said landlines at the Rescue-1122 control room were not functioning, creating problems in maintaining contact with the field staff.

Sajjad said 30 rescue posts carrying cell-phone numbers of the rescue staff had been set up to deal with the situation. Some police officers The Express Tribune spoke to said suspension of the 15 helpline had not considerably affected the crime graph.

Operations Deputy Inspector General Haidar Ashraf said citizens could contact police officers on their cell-phone numbers displayed on signboards across the city.

Civil Lines Superintendent (SP) Imtiaz Sarwar said the number of complaints filed in his division was almost the same as on any other day.

“When people call the police helpline, many issues are resolved on the spot,” City Division SP Asad Sarfraz said.

Akmal Rehman, a citizen, said he had had his car stolen from Minto Park late on Sunday. “The 15 helpline was not working. I was unable to call police immediately.”

Apart from the 15 helpline, landlines at several police stations were also not working.

1-link banking system in Lahore was also shut down, rendering a large number of ATMs dysfunctional.

Dubai Islamic Bank Lahore vice president Waqas Shaukat Khan said 50 per cent of the ATMs had been made operational. Still, he said, a large number of people had visited banks to draw cash.

Federal Investigation Authority Cyber Wing Deputy Director Shahid Hasan said the cause of fire had not be determined.

“A preliminary inquiry has indicated that the staff at the building was not capable of reliably operating some of the modern equipment.”

PTCL officials said they could not give the exact date for restoration of the services. They said the new equipment had been acquired and the services would be operational.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2014.