LHC orders Punjab govt to form fire safety commission

LAHORE: A green bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday ordered the Punjab government to form a fire safety commission.

The court ordered government to include secretaries of environment, industries and labour besides other in the commission which would review existing fire arrangements in buildings, identify dangerous buildings, develop mechanism to control fire incidents.

The bench comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah passed the orders on a petition filed by Shoaib Saleem against lack of facilities to deal with fire incidents.

Earlier, the Director General RESCUE 1122 appeared before the court on being summoned and informed about available resources to deal with fire incidents and problems faced in this regard.

He also pointed out that lack of fire safety arrangements in buildings and added, that building bye-laws were not being implemented.

The petitioner, in his petition, submitted that fire incidents in factories of karachi and Lahore were resulted due to chemicals stored at these locations.

He said that the Punjab government did not have infrastructure to handle such incidents. He pleaded court to take notice of the situation and issue appropriate directions to the Punjab government.