Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Irfan Nawaz Memon said the inquiry report into massive fire at the H-9 weekly bazaar will be completed within few days.
Memon, who is also the administrator of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), local body that deals with the capital’s weekly bazaars, told a leading newspaper that based on the recommendations and findings of the awaited report the MCI would take measures to minimize chances of a similar incident in future.
“At this stage I can’t say anything more,” he added.
Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) also said it would act according to the recommendations of the inquiry report to avoid such incidents in future.
“We don’t want to take any abrupt action to disturb stallholders; we will take some actions to avoid fire incidents in future,” said, DMA Director Shakeel Arshad, adding that “The cause of fire is yet to be determined.”
Possible reason of fire
While a detailed report on the incident is awaited, sources said apparently the fire resulted from welding being carried out by the stallholders to install shutter gates. As per the SOPs issued by the CDA, weekly bazaars are a temporary arrangement, and the stallholders cannot setup permanent shops.
H-9 Sunday Bazaar to get fire station
The DMA director also shared that a fire station in H-9 Sunday Bazaar is being set up on the instruction of the deputy commissioner, adding that it would be made functional within a week.
A massive fire broke out at the Sunday Bazaar in Islamabad’s Peshawar Mor in H-9 Sector on Wednesday, destroying 133 stalls selling carpets, shoes, crockery, and clothes. Fire brigade and other rescue teams, including Rescue 1122 from Rawalpindi and Pakistan Army personnel, participated in the operation to extinguish the blaze.
This is not the first fire incident. The sprawling market has seen at least four such incidents over the last few years, leaving shops destroyed and shopkeepers bearing losses of millions of rupees as the business is heavily invested.