KARACHI: As the rescue operation wound up with the removal of debris of a five-storey residential building that collapsed on Sunday night in Lyari’s Khadda Market, a total of six bodies were retrieved on Monday from the rubble, officials said.

They said five more vulnerable structures in the same neighbourhood were also identified during the rescue process and they could “come to the ground any time”.

The rescue workers including officials of the civic administration, police, Rangers, Pakistan Army and volunteers of different organisations continued their work till Monday night and claimed to have rescued unhurt over a dozen people who were trapped in the debris of the collapsed building.

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani, who was overseeing the rescue operation, confirmed six deaths and said that soon after the incident he took a survey of the area and found five more multistorey buildings in the same neighbourhood which were vulnerable to collapse due to weak structures.

Five vulnerable buildings to be demolished

“Total six bodies have been retrieved,” he said. “The number of injured is the same. Our operation is going on. But in the meantime we have marked five more buildings in this area which are also vulnerable. We are evacuating people from them. Once the operation of this collapsed building is over we would also demolish those five buildings as well. We have declared emergency in the area and utilising all our resources.”

He said the residents of the ill-fated five-storey building were put on notice two months ago with a “request” to leave this building as it had been declared vulnerable.

The over three-decade-old building was identified in a city-wide survey to collect data of vulnerable structures in the metropolis on the Supreme Court directives.

“But the people didn’t pay much attention to our request,” said the commissioner. “Finally, they realized a few days ago and started evacuating it. Most of the building’s residents had already left this place and only a few were there to finalise their plan when the building collapsed. The loss of lives is quite unfortunate and an irreparable loss for the families but we should take the administration’s advice seriously. We could have escaped the level of disaster if the building was left empty when the notice was served.”

300 dilapidated buildings in city

Meanwhile, the Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, who also holds the portfolio of information, said that there were more than 300 buildings in Karachi which were not only old but in a very dilapidated condition.

He said that notices had also been issued to the occupants of these buildings to vacate them immediately but they had refused.

“We are in talks with the occupants of the old buildings and they would vacate the old buildings, relying on the government to provide them with alternative accommodation,” he said while talking to reporters during a visit to the site of the collapsed building in Lyari.

“Legislation is also being made to assure the occupants of such buildings that they would be given alternative accommodation if they leave them.”

Probe under way

He said that a thorough investigation would be carried out into the incident and if anyone from SBCA was found involved, strict legal action would be taken against them.

In order to stop the illegal practices, he said, the Sindh government had already approved separate courts for SBCA-related cases and the apex court had also been approached for judicial appointments.

He said that strict action had been taken against several SBCA officials in the past for allowing illegal constructions and added that various steps had also been taken to curb illegal and dangerous practices in future.

“Unfortunately black sheep are part of every institution but the government of Sindh, especially the Sindh local government department, is striving to expel these black sheep from the SBCA once and for all,” said Mr Shah. “The SBCA officers have already been informed that any officer in whose area illegal construction would take place would be held responsible.

“I also request the people that if the SBCA identifies any old or dangerous structure and issues a notice to vacate it, then they should immediately respond and follow the rules. The only purpose of these notices of the SBCA is to protect your lives,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020