ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has failed to acquire the much-needed firefighting equipment, which it was asked to acquire on emergency basis after the huge fire erupted in the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat on Jinnah Avenue on January 15.

The CDA’s shortcomings in dealing with a big disaster were exposed when this fire completely destroyed the first monumental high-rise building of the federal capital, the House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) Plaza which was later re- named as the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat.

The completely burnt out and blackened structure of mortar and steel is still standing tall, serving as a reminder to all as to what happened on that fateful day almost a year ago. The next day of the fire (January 16), a Cabinet meeting took up the issue and passed a directive to immediately overcome those shortcomings, which resulted in failure of the fire department of the CDA.

The CDA urgently came up with a list of equipment and a demand for enhanced manpower to deal with a future disastrous situation and a PC-I worth Rs33 million was prepared for the approval, which was sent to the interior ministry for its onward presentation to the Planning Division for formal approval.

The equipment demanded in the PC-I included three ariel ladders, three snorkels, six fire tenders, six water tenders, three mini fire tenders, one ambulance and one commanders’ van. The staff, required to strengthen the fire department included 18 drivers, 39 fire fighters and 10 leading firefighters.

But, then it appears that everybody has forgotten everything. Nobody in the authority seems to be interested in pursuing the case and things have been put on the hold. The demand, prepared and sent by the CDA to interior ministry for an onward presentation and approval from the Planning Division, appears to have been buried deep somewhere in piles of files.

It was the recent disastrous fire in the Revenue Department, Rawalpindi, which completely gutted over a century old record, which brought up this subject of inefficiency and incapabilities of the fire departments to deal with such situations. But, for Islamabad it is a different story. In the federal capital, there are already quite a few high-rise buildings on Jinnah Avenue and there is a very urgent need to have a well-equipped and trained firefighting department.

However, it is evident that the people concerned in the CDA are not much interested in pursuing the objective of the building. An effective and efficient team of firefighters and very little efforts have been made over the months since the Shaheed-i-Millat fire disaster to press and get the required approval for purchase of equipment as well as to recruit the needed staff. It is also a well-known fact that a big and the most efficient part of the existing firefighting equipment and man force are not available for general firefighting operations, as those are deployed at the Presidency and the Parliament House on ‘VIP Duty’, further weakening the already weak force.

Amidst these circumstances one wonders whether the people concerned in the CDA are waiting for another disaster to strike before stirring out of their slumber?