KARACHI: Pakistan Medical Association Centre said on Monday that incidents of fire and blazes happen in factories every now and then in which heavy loss of life occurs and victims are mostly poor and downtrodden labourers.

"The news remains in the media for few days and we listen the notices taken by high-ups while hollow promises of dealing culprits strongly are made, besides making of announcement of meagre amount of money as compensation, said PMA's President Dr Sharif Hashmani and General Secretary Dr SM Qaisar Sajjad.

They said: "We the members of PMA offer condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in this tragic incident and feel our responsibility to raise voice against all those who are responsible for such heinous criminal negligence, right from the owners of the factories for establishing their business illegally to all those authorities responsible for checking these illegal activities and turning a blind eye towards it. The rescue teams which were supposed to reach at the site in few minutes took hours to respond."

They said: "We are quite sure about the fact that this factory was located in a densely populated area on an illegal site, where no rules and regulations followed. A free and fair inquiry into this case by no less than an High Court Judge should be conducted."

The PMA leaders demanded that all illegal settlements, wherever they are, should be dismantled. Presence of fire extinguishers equipment must be ensured at every place where poor labourers are working. All buildings must be inspected for designs to cater emergency exits and ventilation. Factory workers should be trained to face this kind of emergencies by organizing workshops. Civil defence department should be activated.

"All the workers should be insured at the expense of factory owners. The names of factory owners and the others involved must be kept on ECL till the proper investigations are carried out. The provincial government must conduct a broad based survey of all the factories by the teams of honest and God fearing people. We demand to resurrect all the laws of the land regarding the factories and mills to be implemented in letter and spirit," the leaders said.