Poonawala Apartment fire incident: affected people seek compensation from KESC

A small fire turned into a devastating inferno and completely damaged part of a five-storey residential building last week in UC-I of Keamari Town due to, what the eyewitnesses said, late-coming of the fire-fighters. Affected people have demanded of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to pay compensation or face legal action from their side.
The fire had broken out in a sub-station of KESC, situated in the ground floor of Poonawala Apartment, and had soon engulfed south-eastern part of the building on October 13, 2008 (Monday) at around 6.28 pm. The blaze, which according to eyewitnesses, had erupted due to short circuit at the sub-station, had badly affected five floors of the Apartment and three floors of an adjacent building, reducing at least eight houses and four shops into ashes.
"Out of the eight affected houses four were completely burnt and four others had got partial damages, while four shops located on ground floor of the two buildings were also completely damaged," said Saadat Nawaz Khan, an eyewitness and resident of Poonawala Apartment. He said the burnt shops included that of a barber, a photostat, an audio-video and a washing chemical shop.
The fire, Saadat said, was not so huge initially, but it turned destructive after being left unattended for at least an hour. He said a fire-fighting team belonging to City District Government Karachi (CDGK) was the first to reach the spot one-hour late at around 7:30 pm followed by the other fire-fighters from Karachi Port Trust (KPT).
Another eyewitness, Mohammad Imran said that fire-fighting station of KPT showed negligence in reaching at the spot on time. It is worth mentioning here that fire-fighting station of KPT, which is located a few kilometers away from the affected Apartment.
"They (officials at KPT fire station) firstly said we don't have the fire-fighters, then said we work inside the port area only and we don't have an NoC," he said. He said three fire tenders belonging to CDGK and KPT had taken part in the fire-fighting mission.
AFFECTEES DEMAND COMPENSATION The affectees, including Ali Bahadur, Mohammad Sadiq Mughal, Abdullah, Mumtaz, Bashir Ahmed, Ghafoor, Khadim Hussain, Abdullah and Khalid Nawaz Khan, have demanded compensation from KESC. According to an eyewitness KESC had signed an agreement with owner of the building that any damage caused by the sub-station would be compensated by the public utility.
"We should be given compensation so that we could restart our business," said Ali Bahadur who has a photostat shop in Poonawala Apartment. The affected building, which provides abodes for hundreds of people, requires special and immediate attention of Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) for the required remedial/re-strengthening measures, if needed.
"Officers from KESC, KPT and KBCA have surveyed the affected building," Saadat said. Despite several attempts of this reporter Kashif Afandi, official spokesman of KESC, did not receive the phone to comment on the issue. While telephone of City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal was found "powered off", City Naib Nazim Nasrin Jalil vowed to support the affected citizens if they approached her.