SBCA invites bids to demolish Karachi's fire-hit Gul Plaza
Contractors have until November 20 to file separate technical and financial proposals for tearing down the building where a January 17 blaze killed more than 73 people.
The Sindh Building Control Authority has invited bids from contractors to demolish Gul Plaza, the Karachi building gutted by a fire that killed more than 73 people, setting November 20 as the deadline for submissions. ARY News reported that the authority placed a newspaper advertisement asking contractors to come forward for the job.
Technical and financial proposals have been invited separately, and the contract will be awarded after the bids are received and evaluated. The SBCA's own demolition team will supervise the work. Aaj English TV also carried the provincial government's decision to seek bids.
The fire broke out on the night of January 17 and burned for more than 32 hours before it was brought under control.
Court proceedings over the blaze are running alongside the tender process. A city court hearing the case rejected a plea by Gul Plaza President Tanveer Pasta and other co-accused seeking a Joint Investigation Team, observing that JITs are constituted exclusively for terrorism cases, according to ARY News. Pasta and the other accused appeared before the court.
Defence counsel Javed Mir argued that the new investigation officer had tried to shield government organisations despite earlier court orders to include them in the investigation. He said the SBCA had taken no action against the builder, while the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the SBCA and the Fire Brigade had been given a clean chit.
Mir told the court the investigation officer had also failed to record the statement of the Deputy Commissioner South. He said that although the fire started on the ground floor, a father and son had been named as accused even though the father was not at the scene.
Around 5,000 people managed to get out of the building, the counsel told the court, and he attributed the deaths to what he described as severe negligence and incompetence on the part of government institutions.
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