The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Saturday issued notices to the interior secretary, the provincial police chief and the SITE station house officer on a petition over the failure of the authorities to identify two victims of a Baldia garments factory fire despite the lapse of over four months.
Hussain Ahmed and Dilawar Hussain submitted that their sons, Sharjeel and Asif Aziz, who were worked as a helper and a pressman in the ill-fated factory, Ali Enterprises, lost their lives in the September 11, 2011 blaze, which claimed the lives of more than 250 employees.
They said the authorities obtained blood samples twice for identifying the victims, but despite the lapse of over four months the bodies had been neither identified nor handed over to them for funeral.
The petitioners said that despite a government announcement of compensation for the legal heirs of the victims, they were not being given any compensation. They claimed that the tragic incident had taken place due to lack of safety measures and dishonesty and negligence on the part of the factory owners, other shareholders and government departments, including labour, environment, civil defence, social security and buildings control.
They said their sons were the only breadwinners of their families, and prayed to the court to direct the authorities concerned to expedite the DNA matching process and ensure the compensation amounts as promised by the government.
A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, issued notices to the interior secretary, the provincial home secretary, the IGP and the SITE SHO for January 15, and called their comments.
The SHC had earlier taken notice of the delay in the identification of 33 victims of the factory fire, and directed the police to obtain DNA reports from the Islamabad laboratory so that the bodies could be handed over to the affected families within 15 days.
Sunday 13 January 2013
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-154021-SHC-seeks-comments-on-delay-in-identifying-victims
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