Sundar tragedy inquiry report holds dead factory-owner responsible
Punjab Industrial Estate, Labour Department didn't check completion certificate while factory ran
LAHORE: (Dunya News) – The inquiry report on the recent Sundar tragedy has on Thursday been released and it holds the dead factory-owner Ashraf primarily responsible for the disaster. The report also says that Punjab Industrial Estate and Industry Department were responsible for checking the completion certificate of the factory which they failed to do. The factory was being run without the completion certificate, reported Dunya News.
The 7-member committee headed by Secretary Industries finalized the inquiry report in a meeting. The committee paid repeated visits to the factory site and also inspected the similar machinery in the adjacent factories.
The report also reveals that the committee was unable to meet the engineer and architect of the building since both of them were missing. The report says that the building was extremely weak from engineering and design point of view and therefore, the structure of the factory was unable to carry the heavy machineries deployed there.
Factory supervisor told the committee that the owner of the factory had been informed about the dangerous situation but he didn’t pay any heed to the warnings and continued to build the factory according to his will.
The report says that the Labour Department and Punjab Industrial Estate failed to fulfill their responsibility. The committee recommended institutional inquiry against the officials of these two departments.
Also read: Sundar factory collapse: Rescue operation concludes after 131 hours
Rescue operation underway at the factory collapse site in Sundar Industrial Estate, Lahore concluded early morning Tuesday after a total of 131 hours of rescue efforts. Talking to the media, District City Officer (DCO) Capt. Usman stated that Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has formed an investigative committee into the matter to apprehend the culprits involved in the tragic incident.
Speaking at the accident site, Capt. Usman informed that a total of 2079 rescue workers participated in the difficult and over-whelming rescue operation of the accident while a total of 309 vehicles were utilized during the rubble clearance operation.
