RAWALPINDI, Dec 21: The ruins of Ghakkar Plaza, which emitted smoke and fire even after passage of 40 hours, have impacted on the business activity in the vicinity and become a headache for the authorities involved in the rescue operation.

It is certain that the remaining part of the shopping mall has to be demolished, if it does not fall by itself.

Station Commander Sajjad Azam told newsmen that the remaining burning structure had lost its strength, therefore, engineers had been deployed to examine the building and send their report to the corps commander, who would take the decision on the method of demolition.

Cantonment General Hospital, located just behind the Ghakkar Plaza, has been completely evacuated to avoid any disaster in case of a further building collapse. Patients have been moved to other government hospitals.

Public life in the entire Saddar area has been completely paralysed. For the second day, there was zero business activity. Traffic remained disrupted due to change in the traffic plan to facilitate the rescue operation.

Many believes the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board should seek the help of the Corps of Engineers and demolish the remaining building as soon as possible by using dynamite in order to avoid any further loss of life and property.

Removal of rubble of the fallen portion was progressing slowly. Sensors were once again placed in the rubble on Sunday to discover any signs of life, but authorities are now convinced that nobody is alive under the debris.

Commissioner of Rawalpindi Haseeb Ather told newsmen that now there was no hope that any survivor would be pulled out of the rubble.

Ghakkar Plaza was “over capacitated” as instead of 78 shops on each floor, more than 100 shops were created through amendments in the layout plan.

The station commander said the owner of plaza was served with notice for the illegal operation of a restaurant on the rooftop. A fine of Rs1.6 million was also imposed for the violation.

He said all commercial plazas had been asked to create emergency exits and make fire fighting arrangements.

Meanwhile, the committee formed by the district government to assess the financial losses had started its work.

Executive District Officer (Revenue) Asif Qureshi has started taking estimates from the affected shopkeepers.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) additional secretary told newsmen that the authority had launched a resource mapping exercise throughout the country to know the level of fire-fighting arrangements and other equipment used to tackle disasters.

The NDMA will complete its work within next two to three months and submit its report to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. This exercise will form basis for evaluation and upgrading the equipment countrywide, he said.