Baldia factory fire: Sindh govt takes u-turn on compensation announcement

KARACHI: Sind Minister for Labour Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Thursday backtracked from his statement pertaining to giving compensation money to the families of deceased in the horrific incident of ‘Baldia factory fire’.

According to the details, the Sindh government, in its written reply submitted to the Sindh High Court, cited that the distribution of Rs560 million among the victims’ families was only a newspaper announcement.

The Sindh High Court, on Thursday resumed hearing a petition filed by the families of Baldia factory fire victims who had moved the court against non-payment of Rs560 million as compensation.

The court remarked that it seemed there was no hope for the victims’ families to receive the compensation money.

The victim families counsel told the court that Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on May 1, 2018 had announced Rs560 million compensation money for the heirs of Baldia factory fire.

The court adjourned the hearing and directed the provincial government to submit its replay on February 28.

Earlier, a German court, on January 10, had thrown out a lawsuit by Pakistani plaintiffs against clothing retailer KiK over a deadly 2012 fire at a Karachi garment factory, saying the statute of limitations had expired.

Dubbed as Pakistan’s 9/11, the blaze at the Ali Enterprises factory, or Baldia Factory Fire, had killed 258 people in one of Pakistan’s worst industrial disasters.