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Tuesday March 19, 2024

100 stalls gutted in H-9 weekly bazaar

By Muhammad Anis
July 19, 2018

Islamabad : Around 100 stalls were gutted in a big fire which erupted here at H-9 weekly bazaar on Wednesday afternoon.

Only the last year during the month of August, a similar incident at the same place burnt to ashes nearly 500 stalls causing loss of about Rs150 million to stall holders.

The fire which started from a stall of section E, immediately spread to the whole section of Lunda Bazaar burning around 100 shops of second-hand garments, shoes, curtains and hosiery items within less than two hours. According to official figures, as many as 105 stalls were burnt in the fire resulting in loss of over Rs100 million to the stall-holders.

The fire was detected at around 1p.m. in Lunda market section of the weekly bazaar which remained closed on Wednesday. The fire-fighters of the Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI) rushed to the site but by that time, the fire had done the damage.

In the meantime, the fire-tenders from Pakistan Navy also joined the efforts to extinguish fire. “The fire might have been reported as it was closed day and there was only one security guard on normal duty,” an official of MCI told ‘The News’.

According to MCI officials, the fire erupted from battery of a solar panel which had been installed inside a stall.

The last year’s fire also broke out due to the similar reasons but management of the bazaar, which is controlled by the MCI did not take the precautionary measures and the stall-holders continued to use battery-installed solar panels which resulted in the second big incident on Wednesday.

According to the MCI spokesman, the fire was reported at 12.57 p.m. while the fire-tenders reached the spot at 1.01 p.m. claiming that it took 45 minutes to extinguish fire. “Around 150 members of the rescue team took part in the operation,” the official said.

Another official said the fire might have broken out earlier but it could not be detected as the bazaar which is opened on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday was closed.

Various stall-holders while weeping and crying, also participated in the operation but it was destruction which they experienced in the end.

A four-member committee headed by Director Security and also comprising Director Municipal Administration, Deputy Director Emergency and Disaster Management and Assistant Director Fire Operation has also been constituted to probe the incident.

The inquiry committee will submit its report to the Islamabad Mayor and Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Later, the stall-holders staged a protest demonstration outside the bazaar while complaining insufficient security arrangement which according to them resulted in fire and loss of millions of rupees to them. Ironically, the charge of Assistant Director (Bazaars) has been given to an Inspector of bazaars whereas there are dozens of officials of BPS-17 who could have been assigned the task.

“The management of MCI which cannot check price-hike of vegetables and fruits at the bazaar should also look after the security measures,” Muhammad Ramzan, a regular visitor of the weekly bazaar said.