ISLAMABAD: Almost all the burnt stalls in the sprawling H-9 weekly have been restored, but not by the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), but by the shopkeepers themselves.

Last month, over 90 stalls caught fire, allegedly due to a short circuit, destroying garments and other goods worth millions of rupees.

However, though it is supervising the bazaar, the MCI allowed shopkeepers to re-construct their damaged stalls from their own pockets, apparently due to shortage of funds.

Though vendors have restored businesses, what of the risk of further fires posed by SOP violations?

Though almost all the stalls have been restored, the risk of another fire incident is still very much there as stall holders use generators, UPS devices and solar panels.

During the last two years, the bazaar has faced just as many massive fire incidents due to short circuits. More than 500 of the 2,800 stalls were destroyed in a massive fire last year and 90 in the fire last month.

There is no provision for electricity for stallholders in this weekly market. Khan Zamaan, who runs a garments and cloth business, incurred losses of Rs1 million in last month’s fire.

He said he re-started his business with the help of friends.

“No one supported us. We reconstructed the stalls on our own. My business partners and friends supported me in bringing in a new stock of clothes,” he said, adding that electricity connections should be provided to all stalls to minimise the risk of fires.

Another affected shopkeeper, Khalid Mahmood said stall holders took up the case for reconstructing the bazaar with the MCI.

However, they felt that official work could take many months and there were also reports that MCI did not have any funds.

“We decided to construct the stalls on our own,” he said.

The standard operating procedures (SOP) for Sunday bazaars are openly violated in almost all weekly bazaars due to negligence of concerned authorities.

The SOPs dictate that stallholders cannot place UPS batteries and backup generators in their stalls and shopkeepers cannot store goods in the markets.

The weekly bazaars are to be closed down after sunset but all markets run late into the night for which stallholders have to use UPS batteries and generators.

When asked, Directorate of Municipal Administration Director Zafar Iqbal said shopkeepers had restored their business after repairing their burnt shops.

He said that through an understanding, the stall owners cannot claim dues from the MCI, as it was their choice to restore them on their own.

However, he said, MCI has been making efforts to get funds from the government and in case it does, the corporation could compensate the shopkeepers.

“But so far, we do not have funds,” he said.

Asked about the violation of SOPs, he said a fresh SOP will be formulated for all bazaars, which will be implemented in true letter and spirit.

“I do agree that there are violations of the SOP as shopkeepers use generators, UPS and such but no one will be allowed to violate the SOP to be made after Eid,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2018