RAWALPINDI: More than 430 fire explosion incidents have been reported in Rawalpindi during this year in which five persons lost their lives and 27 were injured. According to information availed from Rescue 1122, 19 victims were shifted to hospitals and three were provided with first aid treatment. Due to lack of counter safety equipment in commercial buildings, officers and public places every year, dozens of precious lives are lost. Rawalpindi Civil Defense Officer Sanjida Khanum says Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has sent a few proposed maps of commercial buildings for the grant of no objection certificate (NOC) on basis of safety measures. “Other than RDA, no one came to us to check for safety measures before the construction of any commercial building,” she said. Civil Defense does not have the legal authority to force the owners for the installation of safety equipments and emergency exits during the construction of any building, she said adding, however, they checked the commercial buildings randomly with administration and gave notices to them who do not have the safety arrangements done. “After receiving notices, they appeared in front of the magistrate. Now it is up to the court to either fine them or send them to prison,” she said. Replying to a question, Sanjida Khanum said she doesn’t remember if anyone has ever gotten punished in such cases in the last many years. Data, obtained through the Right to Information Act, shows that Rescue 1122 issued NOC to only 142 proposed building maps during the last seven years, but almost none of them have taken the building completion certificate. Data availed from multiple departments shows, like other cities of the country, more than 90 percent of the commercial buildings in Rawalpindi do not have the fire safety equipment and emergency exits, which increased level of threats to loss of lives and property. Rescue 1122 Safety Officer Azra Shahid said that her employers do not have any authority to check the buildings during their construction to ensure whether they follow safety measures. “We only can check the building once the owner approaches us for a ‘completion certificate’,” she explained. “We issue the completion certificate after checking the availability of safety measures in the building.” More than 13 firefighters embraced martyrdom while trying to save precious lives. A fire erupted in the multi-story building in downtown Saddar on December 20, 2017. Nearly 500 shops were gutted in the fire that lasted for 18 hours. Again, this was not the only incident that took lives of 13 firefighters. While taking exclusively to Daily Times, Firefighters Association Chairman Ghulam Muhammad Naz said that there was no law about fire safety measures until 2016 in Pakistan. After a strong demand from the civil society and fire fighters, the Punjab government formed building code after eight years. Almost 12 different departments were assigned duty to ensure the implementation of this code. But unfortunately during the preparation of this code the problems of these departments were not addressed, so much that the departments did not receive the copies of this code yet. It is necessary to create awareness among these departments and in public about this code and the government should empower the departments especially Rescue 1122 for the implementation of the code, he added. Requesting anonymity, an official at the Municipal Corporation says a number of newly constructed commercial buildings during the last seven years are now in hundreds. Builders construct their buildings allegedly by giving bribe to building control authorities instead of getting NOCs from multiple departments, sources say. While expressing views about safety measures in commercial buildings, senior journalist Jamil Mirza said that all over the world, it is a law that newly constructed buildings cannot be used without getting the completion certificate from the relevant authority, but unfortunately in Pakistan, shop owners can even put up their stalls near the emergency exits. One of the major causes of loss of lives in Ghakar Plaza explosion was heavy generators placed in the galleries of the shopping mall, he said. After the Ghakar Plaza incident, a high level committee headed by the commissioner was formed to ensure the construction of a building is done according to the safety rules. The committee was also assigned to ensure that there are fire safety extinguishers in the commercial buildings. But even after the formation of this committee, commercial activities in Ghakar Plaza and other commercial buildings are at their peak without following the safety measures. Published in Daily Times, July 17th 2018.