Chairman Law and Order Committee of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Nadeem Khan has demanded the establishment of rescue and rapid response force headed by Commissioner Karachi for dealing with fire emergencies and other unexpected devastation in the city. He also suggested the establishment of rapid response force at Madadgar 15 Korangi industrial area.
Citing the example of Lahore, he said that in Karachi, it was need of hours to have well-trained and well-equipped rescue force on the pattern 1122 Lahore, which dealt with emergencies in shopping plazas, malls, industries and other places He suggested that the force have trained manpower, latest equipment and fire proof uniform to deal with emergencies. If these precautionary measures were not taken urgently, the occurrence of horrible events could not be avoided where precious lives of poor workers were lost. He expressed his sheer concern over the ever-increasing incidents of fire in Karachi particularly in shopping malls and industrial areas.
Khan said that the government was paying no attention to the safety and security of people and added that its only focus was on tax collection. Talking to newsmen, he cited an example of recent fire incident at Millennium shopping mall where the special squad reached about two and half hours late after the fire broke out. Some scruples persons had taken the advantage of the sternly serious condition and started looting goods.
The fire brigade personnel did not manage to get into the shopping mall to rescue trapped women, children and others as that they did not have proper equipment and fire resistant uniforms. Khan said that the fire fighting system in Karachi had gone outdated due to which the fire brigade department was unable to extinguish fire effectively and timely. He said, "Karachi is the biggest and highest revenue generating city of the country but it does not have proper facilities to deal with emergencies like fire and earthquake etc."
He said that rapid response force should also be established at Madadgar Karachi Industrial area Brook roundabout and the police force already posted at Madadgar should be provided proper rescue training. He urged the Additional Inspector General (AIG) Police, Shahid Hayat and Director General Rangers Rizwan Akhtar to increase rangers and police strength at 15.
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