Gul Plaza Fire: DC-South submits reply to judicial probe questions

KARACHI: Deputy Commissioner-South in his reply submitted to the Judicial Commission, which is inquiring into the Gul Plaza fire tragedy, said that the shopping mall at M.A. Jinnah Road comes into the administrative jurisdiction of KMC.

“The internal roads on both sides of Gul Plaza have been in the jurisdiction of the TMC Saddar,” DC South stated.

He said there was more than routine traffic on the day of the fire incident, there were reports of some traffic jam. Traffic Police immediately tackle the issue and cleared the road, district official said.

“The emergency relief vehicles and fire brigade reached to the spot without any major obstacle,” he stated. “The road’s width was temporarily narrowed owing to the Green Line work, which resulted in increasing traffic pressure, he said.

“No encroachment or municipal work found that had restricted the access of the relief vehicles, concerned officials removed temporary hurdles caused by traffic immediately,” DC said.

“The police controlled the mob to avoid any hindrance in relief activities,” he said.

DC said that the fire was intensified owing to the internal structure of the building and stocks of the combustible material.

He said that the Commissioner Karachi and the AIG Karachi Range conducted detailed inquiry of the incident. The district administration ensured coordination among Gul Plaza owners, administrative representatives and other concerned parties, he said.

In a reply DC South Karachi said that a committee was constituted for screening of the documents of the affected persons while another committee formed for resolution of disputes.

He said that fire safety audits and inspections of commercial buildings, shopping malls and high-rise buildings conducted in district south. “Several meetings held with the KMC, SBCA, Civil Defence,Rescue 1122 and other institutions”.

DC South recommended precautionary measures to address happening of such incidents in the future.

Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed yesterday in her written reply said that the fire and suffocation by smoke was the cause of deaths in the incident. “Total 73 dead bodies and human remains brought to hospital,” Dr Summaiya said. “There were seven complete bodies and remains of 66 burnt bodies.”

“The remains were intensely burnt so their complete postmortem could not be conducted,” police doctor said.

On January 17 night, a massive fire broke out at Gul Plaza shopping mall on M.A. Jinnah Road, engulfing the building and trapping dozens inside it. The blaze raged for over 32 hours before being brought under control, exposing weaknesses of the Karachi’s emergency response system.