Another BDS official resigns over death of colleague
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HYDERABAD: Another official of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) tendered his resignation on Wednesday to the SP of the Special Branch Hyderabad.
The official, ASI Khan Bahadur, was accompanying BDS official Saleem Vistro on Oct 28 when Vistro received deep burn wounds while defusing crackers in Tando Allahyar.
SP Imdad Shah confirmed having received the resignation and said that he along with the ASI would meet DIG Special Branch Akram Naeem Bharoka in Karachi on Thursday.
Bahadur resigned in protest and followed in the footsteps of his in-charge of BDS Hyderabad, Fakhrul Hasnain, who decided to quit while protesting against delayed treatment to the late Vistro.
There is great disappointment among BDS staff the way Vistro was treated for the deep burn wounds he received on duty.
A BDS personnel said Vistro had to leave for Tando Allahyar in a private car without carrying EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) suit. “He didn’t carry the suit for lack of space in the car, otherwise we usually carry it in a mobile that was not available at that time,” he said.
EOD suit weighs around 72kg and it requires a mobile for transportation. The BDS personnel claimed that there were around 10 districts for which there was only one such suit available.
Vistro, Fakharul Hasnain and Bahadur got jobs in the BDS in 1999, 1995 and 2000, respectively, after retirement from PAF. Bahadur is also fighting a legal case in the high court for his promotion.
Fakharul Hasanin quoted delayed treatment as reason for Vistro’s death. He said he was not even seen by doctors in Liaquat National Hospital and he kept bleeding which claimed his life. He believed that had his superiors not shown slackness in releasing required amount of money for the treatment of Vistro, he would have survived. “It was quite pathetic to see one of our best colleagues dying that way,” he said.
He said his resignation was not accepted. It had not been sent to the BDS hierarchy.
Bahadur disclosed that 18 crackers had been defused during the procedure by him and Saleem while he was busy defusing the 20th and Saleem the 19th which exploded.
He claimed that there were no government hospitals that offered treatment to BDS officials free of charge on the pattern of PAF.
Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2014
