KARACHI: The administration of district Central and police on Friday allowed shopkeepers of the Arshi Shopping Centre to visit and inspect their shops that were badly affected by a huge fire that erupted on Wednesday evening and claimed lives of four persons.

Although the building has been declared liveable by a technical committee of the Sindh Building Control Authority on Thursday, the residents could not be shifted there.

Jauharabad SHO Sudheer Bhayo said that the residents were not shifted to their apartments located on four floors of the building, partly because electricity had not been restored and also because a final approval was needed by authorities concerned to this effect.

He added that around 100 shops had been cleared on the ground floor on Friday while the clearing process of the remaining 20-25 shops would likely be carried out on Saturday (today).

He said the district administration and the police officials allowed the shopkeepers to inspect their goods and other valuables in the shops.

The SHO said that the crime scene unit of police and investigators also inspected the building and collected evidence.

Four persons were killed when the huge fire erupted in the commercial-cum-residential building on Wednesday evening while several shops, vehicles and one flat were completely destroyed in the fire whose exact cause could not be ascertained immediately.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2023