Rawalpindi: Commercial buildings fire risk looming large

[Naveed Yaseen]

The poor condition of electricity wiring of most of the plazas in the city could lead to another incident like Gakhar Plaza where fire broke out due to short circuit and concerned authorities are least bothered to address the situation.

According to a survey conducted by ‘The News’ the most serious situation of the electricity wires was witnessed at mega shopping malls and some multi-storey shopping plazas of the city.

The owners of these plazas who have spent millions of rupees on the construction of these plazas are least bothered about the dangling electricity wires.

The electricity wiring of a shopping plaza situated at the College Road is in a pathetic condition.

A shopkeeper Asim told ‘The News’, “The main electricity supply box remains opened and in rain we often see sparks and flames emanating from this box, which also leads to the suspension of power supply of the whole plaza.”

Talking to ‘The News’ Hussain Shah, owner of the plaza said, “All the plazas at this road have same electricity system, where the main supply boxes are placed openly, it is the responsibility of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) to replace these faulty systems at a safe corner.”

An electrical engineer Shehzad Khan said, “The electricity wiring is one of

the toughest job for an electrician, but

unfortunately here in our country every person who is associated with the electricity business calls himself an electrician.”

“The authorities are not paying heed towards the situation because there is no process to check the wire quality and other issues related to the electricity wiring,” he added.

However, Tehsil Municipal Officer (TMO), Irfan Saleem Butt said, “We are inspecting all the plazas where wiring is open or in poor state. Notices will be issued to the owners of all such plazas in next couple of days.”

Iesco Director operation Yousaf Awan said, “The electricity wiring of commercial and residential plazas is inspected by an electricity inspector just after the construction of the plaza.”

“However the Iesco responsibility is only from the wire, which is connected with electricity pole to the meters. Whereas the state of electricity from meters onwards is the responsibility of the plaza or house owner,” he added.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=154775