The Sindh government appointed a committee on Monday (15 November) to investigate the fire that damaged hundreds of stores in the Saddar Cooperative Market on Sunday (14 November).
The inferno that erupted on Sunday evening was put out after an hour of frantic attempts, but cooling efforts lasted until Monday evening, with one firefighter suffering burns.
While traders suspected foul play, authorities believe the fire was ignited by an electric short-circuit since work to install electric meters was taking place in the market on Sunday. Murad Ali Shah, the Chief Minister of Sindh, said a survey was being conducted to determine the extent of the fire’s damage.
Dr. Naseemul Ghani Sahito, the secretary of Sindh’s cooperative department, appointed an investigative committee led by cooperative housing authority director Ijaz Ahmed Khatri and instructed him to deliver a report within 15 days. Furthermore, he stated that the investigation group would look at the fire’s likely causes.
According to him, the shopkeepers said that the fire destroyed roughly 400 shops on the ground floor of the market. Shops on the first and second floors, he claimed, are largely owned by tailors and utilized as warehouses.
Dr. Sahito said he visited the market in 2018 and warned the group about the “lack of a firefighting system” in a letter.
According to a letter dated May 8, 2018, the association’s attention has been directed to the “dismissal security system” that is now available in the market for firefighting.
He had directed the market association to “boost security systems to prevent any untoward incident in the future,” saying, “This office would not be held responsible for your lack of expertise and firefighting system in the event of an emergency.”
Traders intend to file a police report
According to Preedy police, firefighter Sikander Ali, 55, was burned while performing cooling work at the market in the early hours of Monday morning.
He was taken to Dr. Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi’s Burns Centre for treatment.
60 fire engines were involved in the firefighting effort, which was completed around 2 am or 3 am, according to Area SHO Sajjad Khan.
He claimed that on Monday, a group of traders led by the market president went to the police station to file an FIR because they suspected foul play. The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on the other hand, summoned them to a meeting.
According to the SHO, the shopkeepers said that there were 400 businesses on the ground floor of the building, with over 98 percent of them destroyed. Furthermore, there were 180 stores on the first floor, with 80 percent of them damaged.
He said that some market association leaders claimed to have suffered losses of roughly Rs1 billion.
The SHO stated that the fire department’s report on the cause of the incident was still pending.
