Lahore : Chief Minister Punjan Maryam Nawaz Sharif chaired an important meeting to ensure safety of people’s lives and property. She directed the authorities concerned to conduct a fire safety audit of all markets, buildings, schools and high-rise buildings, besides conducting a fire drill across the province. She gave them a deadline of two weeks to complete the fire safety regulations and ensure full implementation of Building Safety Act. It was decided in the meeting special powers should be assigned to PERA Force, besides establishing a special cell for the purpose. On this occasion, it was made mandatory to keep the internal and external routes of all buildings clear throughout the province, besides correcting and clearing the safety signage in all buildings. The meeting was briefed that WASA will ensure installation of fire hydrants at geo-tagged locations as identified by Rescue 1122, which will be equipped with the modern technology including thermal and other drones for fire fighting. Relevant authorities also briefed participants of the meeting that external fire hydrants will be installed in all buildings in Punjab within two weeks, while Rescue 1122 will geo-tag important locations throughout the province. They added that the government will consult stakeholders of all industrial institutions for human and building safety. They highlighted that only Rescue 1122 Punjab in South Asia has UN certification, and during a year, Rescue 1122 services will be introduced in all tehsils of Punjab, besides further improving the reach of rescue services due to the campaign to eliminate encroachments across the province.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said that courage, wisdom and technology are also necessary to deal with fire in buildings. She added that building safety codes must be ensured, there is no place in Punjab for those who play with the lives of people. She underscored that every tehsil, every market, every building, every school, and every high-rise of Punjab will now be safe.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
