LAHORE, May 3: Residents of Allama Iqbal Town vegetable market area have held the City District Government responsible for the incident. Talking to Dawn, they claimed that they had already brought the issue (illegal business of LPG cylinders in the area) into the knowledge of the CDG. They said they had also asked the owner of the house to eject tenets for running the illegal business.

Khwaja Mukaram, the owner of the adjacent house which also collapsed, said the people involved in the business used to refill small cylinders without taking safety measures. He said he and some other area people had filed an application against this business with the CDGL and the Punjab Environment Protection Department but no action was initiated against the culprits.

Mushtaq, 25, who sustained serious wounds told Dawn in the Jinnah Hospital that he used to sell ice-lolly on a company’s bicycle in Iqbal Town. He said he and 12 of his fellow vendors had requested Faisal, who ran the cylinder business, to shift it to some non-residential area.

District Nazim Mian Amer said responsibility of the incident could only be fixed after an inquiry. However, he claimed the CDGL had not received any complaint on the issue. — Staff Reporter