Another collapse

It has become almost a routine affair in this country. Every few weeks you hear about a building collapse somewhere in Pakistan but no major steps are taken to avoid such tragedies. The latest was in Lyari’s Khadda Market in Karachi where on June 7, at least two persons were killed and around 30 injured when a five-storey residential building collapsed. According to reports, eight families were residing in the apartment building located in a densely populated area with narrow lanes. Such narrow approaches make it very difficult for rescue vehicles and machinery to reach the accident site. Less than three months ago, around 25 people were killed when a building collapsed in Gulbahar near Rizvia Society. At that time too, it was pointed out that some serious efforts were needed to prevent such accidents. After that tragedy an investigation was initiated, a couple of officials were suspended, but nobody knows what happened to that investigation.

It is the responsibility of various civic authorities to keep checks on such dilapidated buildings, especially the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) is primarily responsible for approving building layout plans, and verifying the quality of construction. It is not only the older buildings that are dangerous: recently we have seen that even newer buildings tend to be built with substandard material and come tumbling down while they are under construction or have just been completed. Such matters are normally taken care of by city governments but since the PPP government has not handed over civic matters to the city government, the local bodies and their elected representatives feel deprived and their interest in such matters has completely evaporated. It is a sad fact that before the collapse of the building, some residents had felt vibrations in the structure and called the SBCA and the commissioner’s office with complaints but the authorities are reported to have just ignored the complaints. If these reports are true, then both the SCBA officials and the commissioner’s office must be held accountable for their lack of response.

They should have immediately sent a team of building experts to check the structure and made arrangements for evacuation without delay. Most of the narrow lanes in both old and new areas of the city are the result of illegal extension of building boundaries and encroachment on the streets. This practice is not new and for decades we have seen how wide lanes, where trucks could pass, have become so narrow that even a car can hardly go through. Though Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Shah has ordered a transparent enquiry, he would do better by making public some previous such reports. The people of this city have a right to know what measures were taken after the previous tragedy in March, who was held responsible and what actions were taken.