RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has failed to ensure implementation of building bylaws as well as allocation of parking space and fire safety measures in the city areas.

“More than 80 per cent of the highrise buildings in Raja Bazaar, College Road, Liaquat Road, Satellite Town, Commercial Market and Murree Road have been constructed without any parking area and fire safety measures which shows negligence of the building and civil defence departments,” said a senior RMC official while talking to Dawn.

“All commercial plazas on College Road that deal in garments and other materials from China failed to allocate space for parking. Similalry, on Murree Road, the buildings did not allocate parking space in the front and basements which led to traffic chaos in the area. Visitors had to park vehicles on roadsides,” he added.

The official said that the building department did not check building by laws in the city areas due to political pressure.

Majority of plazas lack parking spaces, fire safety measures

He said that in thickly populated area of Raja Bazaar, Bara Market and Moti Bazaar, not a single shopping mall had installed fire safety measures and allocated space for the parking of vehicles on main roads.

District Officer Civil Defence Talib Hussain admitted that the highrise buildings in the garrison city were without fire safety equipment and the building bylaws had not been checked.

“We are just giving no-objection certificates (NoC) to the owners to construct buildings on vacant plots. In the NoC, the department mentioned that ventilation and installation of the fire safety equipment should be ensured and emergency exits should be allocated from upper storeys to parking areas in the basement,” he said.

However, a senior official of the district administration said that it was the duty of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and the Civil Defence Department to ensure the implementation of these rules and take action against violators and seal the buildings and impose fines.

He said that the civic body was working to implement building bylaws in the city areas and that there was no political pressure on officials to perform their duties.

“It is the duty of the civic body to implement rules and regulations made for the safety of the people. But, it is the duty of the shopkeepers to implement the rules for the safety of their investment as well as the lives of the visitors,” the official added.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2025