The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Association Front has expressed deep concern over the huge financial losses caused by the Hafeez Center inferno in provincial metropolis, urging the government to formulate a strategy in consultation with the real stakeholders to determine the cause of the fire as early as possible, besides compensating traders for their losses.
In a joint statement issued on Monday, PIAF Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir and vice chairman Javed Siddiqi, Mian Nauman expressed deep sorrow over the loss of property and demanded of the government to announce full relief for the affected the businessmen.
The PIAF leadership said that government should announce compensation for the businessmen who have suffered huge losses and also urged the private sector to get fire insurance at the earliest to avoid such unprecedented fatalities in future.
He urged the Federal and Provincial governments to ensure infrastructure development and installation of fire hydrants at those places of all market which are inaccessible for fire tenders. He said that despite various fire incidents in the country in general and Lahore in particular during last one decade, no concrete measures had been taken.
He said that PIAF has always been standing by the traders and would continue to raise its voice at every forum and would strongly demand the government to correct their losses by identifying them.
He said that Hafeez Center is an important and big commercial center of Lahore in which small and big traders do businesses, it is impossible to recover from the damage caused by this fire.
Mian Nauman Kabir said that although it is the government’s task to put Hydrants in inaccessible market places but in case of financial constraints at government level, the private sector should also contribute.
He asked the government to announce compensation for the businessmen who have suffered huge losses and also urged the private sector to get fire insurance on their own.
He said that the fire incidents in Lahore have exposed the weaknesses in the system and there is an urgent need to rectify them on emergent basis.
