Traders in Islamabad have demanded that the rules of firefighting of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) should be revised to include old industrial and commercial buildings.

The issue was discussed in a meeting of Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI), with Syed Kashif Shah, Director of Emergency & Disaster Management, MCI.

Bakhtawari told Kashif that the current regime of rules and regulations of MCI is very complicated and difficult to implement in business and commercial centers. “It becomes difficult to implement them in old commercial and industrial buildings. Therefore, they need to be revised to include old buildings,” he said.

He highlighted the need to form a committee comprising representatives of ICCI and MCI to review and amend the building codes and firefighting requirements of MCI to make them implementable in the existing industrial and commercial buildings.

Kashif Shah told the President of ICCI that he is not authorized to amend the firefighting rules of the MCI. He, however, assured the business community of Islamabad that he will convey their message and reservations to the relevant authorities in MCI.

After the recent fire in Centaurus mall in the heart of Islamabad, Kashif said that MCI wants to implement these firefighting rules in public and private sector buildings in a uniform way for the safety of occupants and assets.

Faad Waheed, Senior Vice President; Azhar ul Islam Zafar, Vice President of ICCI; Khalid Iqbal Malik, Group Leader; Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi, Khalid Chaudhry and others, also attended the meeting.

They all communicated their reservations about the firefighting rules of MCI. They asked for amending the rules to make them affordable and implementable for the business community.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk