LAHORE: A three-storey plaza collapsed at Bahria Town on Saturday.

Owner of the plaza, Waqas Aslam told the police another building was being constructed on the plot adjacent to his plaza which exposed its basement and foundations. He said the digging for the new under-construction building had also damaged the water supply line and it had also further affected the foundation of his plaza.

He claimed that he had reported the matter to the Bahria Town management and alleged that no measures were taken to the control the damage.

Mr Aslam added that the plaza started shaking on Saturday and all the people in it came out. The whole building caved in with a bang after sometime. He said valuables worth millions of rupees were buried under its debris.

After the incident, the security personnel of Bahria Town reached the spot and tried to take control of the site. A number of the people also gathered on the spot and a scuffle erupted between the owner of the plaza and security personnel.

The security personnel dispersed the crowd gathered around the site. The people who were making videos of the scene were also allegedly stopped by the security personnel.

Saddar Division Superintendent of Police (SP) Operations Rana Umar Farooq told Dawn that the police had registered a case under on the complaint of Waqas Aslam. He confirmed the claim of Mr Aslam regarding the cause of the building collapse.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2018