LAHOR E: Most of the high-rises in Lahore are not safe to live in or work as a recent survey of the city district found that 495 of the 605 high-rises (having 50 feet and above height) don`t have adequate ñreñghting and safety arrangements.

This was found out when a joint team of the city`s civic agencies surveyed 605 buildings and reported the issue to the deputy commissioner in a meeting here on Tuesday.

The participants in the meeting expressed concerns at the situation and sought provision of the ñrefighting and safety arrangements in 495 buildings. They also asked the departments concerned, especially the Punjab Emergency Department (Rescue 1122) and other civic agencies to carry out a survey of the all marriage halls and marquees in the city and ensure arrangements for safety of the public.

`We need to carry out a comprehensive survey of all marriagehalls, marquees etc too since many people visit there to attend events.

Therefore, the emergency department`s Lahore team, respective assistant commissioners and marriage halls association representatives must start surveys of such premises with immediate effect, Lahore DC Muhammad Ali said while addressing the meeting.

He directed the authorities concerned to also ensure safety arrangements in all teaching hospitals of Lahore in line with the safety standards and relevant regulations. He was also of the view that the survey of all city markets should also be conducted after completion of the marriage halls.

`The staff deputed at marriage halls, markets, high-rises and other business premises must be imparted training in the first aid and helping the authorities in rescue and evacuation operations , Mr Ali said, adding that the public at large should also be given awareness on plugging gas leakage and other measures to minimize the possibility of fire eruption.

`All buildings falling in category (D) which means most dangerous must be brought in category (A) safe premises,` the DC said.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of Rescue 1122, Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Traffic Engineering Planning Authority (Tepa), LahoreDevelopment Authority (LDA) and others concerned.

On the other hand, District Emergency Of ficer Shahid Waheed says that the meeting was held to sensitise the participants of the Punjab Emergency Community Safety Act-2022 approved by the Punjab Assembly recently.

`This act provides a series of safety standards that must be followed in all buildings, especially where the people are living in apartments and the areas where vertical building growth is being promoted,` he explained while talking to Dawn on Tuesday.

He said the participants decided to take strict action by ensuring safety arrangements in all buildings under the new act. He said it was time to implement the new act in letter and spirit in a bid to avert the fire incidents in the city buildings since many people had lost their lives due to such tragic incidents in the past.

Mr Waheed said that under the act, all buildings were now required to get safety certificates from the emergency department.

`If anyone (owner of the building) avoids getting this certificate by not ensuring provision of safety arrangements, he/she would be penalised under the law,` he warned.

SQUAD: Lahore Waste Management Company chief executive officer Ali Anan Qamar inau-gurated the anti-littering squad to further improve the beauty of the provincial capital and ensure cleanliness.

`The squad would be responsible to make GPO Chowk, Nagi Market, Dulha Market, Panorama Centre and the Electronics Market as litterfree,` he said while speaking on the occasion. He said in the first phase, the anti-littering squad would work on the Mall Road and Canal Road.

The anti-littering squad would collect shopping bags and wrappers from the greenbelts and roadside.

`It would also collect the garbage picked up from the roadside in separate bins,` Mr Qamar added. The squad, he said, would spread awareness among people about littering.

`Those who throw garbage and wrappers on the road will also be fined by this squad with the help of the cameras of the safe city authority,` he added.

Moreover, a three-bin system has been installed at 39 points in the city for waste segregation. Initially, it had been made operational at the Liberty Market, Barkat Market, Main Market, G-1 Market, Samanabad Moon Market, Karim Block Market, Shalimar Link Road and GT Road. Tri-color bins have also been installed at Chauburji Chowk, Daroghawala Chowk and Shouk Chowk.

`Garbage segregation will help us in recycling,` he added.