Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is looking uninterested to implement fire prevention and life safety regulations in letter and spirit as the civic authority has failed to implement the approved Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in this regard.

According to details, the Member Estate Wing of the CDA, had decided in 2013, that the transfer of any property in the capital city shall be made only after the receipt of an NOC from the Building Advisory Unit.

He had further directed to the estate management directorates and the one window operation cell to send all files of the residential and commercial properties to the directorate of disaster management for obtaining a fire prevention and life safety NOC to ensure a fire free Islamabad.

The reason behind the decision was to implement the fire and safety regulations across the board i.e. existing buildings and new buildings. A large number of buildings in Islamabad were violating the said regulations as the owners failed to adopt any fire preventive measures.

A source inside the Authority briefed Daily Times that the decision was made at the request of the Emergency and Disaster Management (E&DM) Directorate, which was of the view that by imposing a condition to seek a NOC from the said directorate before the transfer of any property, it would help to implement the safety regulations in the capital city.

He said: “Unfortunately, the officers of the estate management and one window operation never took these directives seriously and considered the move as sharing of powers, which caused hurdles in the implementation of safety regulations.” It is pertinent to mention that Islamabad Fire Prevention and Life Safety regulations were enforced by the Authority in 2010; whereas, according to the sub clause 5 of Section 5, it is clearly mentioned that all existing buildings constructed before the promulgation of the said rules shall fulfil the requirements within six months of the issuance of these regulations.

The CDA has adopted a practice to seek an NOC from the Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate before the issuance of the completion certificate of building plans by the Building Control Section, but it does not have any modus operandi to implement such rules on existing buildings, whereas the above mentioned strategy was a smart move by the Authority, which started due to internal feud.

“Although, the fire and safety regulations are quite necessary to avoid any disaster or even minimise the losses in case of such disasters, but there are some ground realities that demands us to adopt a workable policy,” an officer commented on the issue, adding: “the regulations should be strictly applied on new buildings instead of old buildings simultaneously, as the rules were adopted by the CDA in 2010 and they cannot be applied on all properties in one go.”

He said; “the people have already several problems and they can’t bear another to seek an NOC from the Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate.”

An officer of the E&DM directorate, while responding to the issue said: “It is a dilemma of our nation that we give a narrow attention on the protective measures to save our life and property.” He said further; “by taking little pain we can save our future from bigger loss.”

Daily Times learnt that the said regulations are being treated as a formality and no one is willing to enforce the rule. Both new and old buildings are working in violation of rules, but nobody is willing to take the responsibility. Ultimately, another committee will be formed after any untoward incident, as a routine to identify the responsible elements.