A fire that burnt many dreams

LAHORE
A sudden fire, which burned dozens of shops in Chief Minister’s Model Bazaar, Township, a week ago, could have been prevented had the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) made effective fire-fighting arrangements.
This was claimed by the shopkeepers whose shops were reduced to ashes just within half an hour and even after passing of seven days none of them can have a sleep. “The fire not only destroyed my garments shop but all my dreams of raising my four school going children with dignity,” said Muhammad Ramzan, who was sitting outside the Model Bazaar.
The shopkeepers whose shops were burnt had established a protest camp outside the Model Bazaar because they felt that none in the government circles was ready to compensate their loss. Local MPA Afzal Khokhar visited the bazaar on the day of the incident and assured the shopkeepers that the government would compensate their loss. However, later neither the MPA nor the CDGL officials were ready to even listen to them.
A visit to Model Bazaar by the scribe showed that there was no visible firefighting equipment installed in the bazaar, even after such a big damage. Irony of facts is that only four buckets full of water and sand are lying outside the office of the administrator.
The electricity wiring, through which electricity is distributed to the shops is not reliable and similar incidents may occur in future. Shopkeepers said that a single main wire was passing through all the shops and had a large number of joints. They said the fire was also a result of a short-circuit.
It is pertinent to mention here that the DCO Lahore who proactively dealt fire incidents in big city markets in past had failed to take any action against the officials concerned for absence of firefighting equipment. Shopkeepers said the DCO Lahore should have visited the Chief Minister’s Model Bazaar to himself see that still no firefighting equipment is installed or provided there to deal with any similar incident in future.
When contacted, the CDGL spokesman said that after the incident, DCO Lahore set up an inquiry committee to determine the cause of the fire as well as to make estimate about loss. The CDGL will surely compensate the shopkeepers once the inquiry report is finalised, he added.