LAHORE: A dramatic video showing the collapse of a plaza in Lahore’s Bahria Town stirred controversy on Sunday after the property’s tenant accused the management of negligence.
According to the plaza’s tenant DWP Group, while digging for a new building in the adjacent plot an underground water pipeline had burst open, resulting in water pooling beneath the foundations of the plaza. The tenant said that although the water leakage was immediately reported to the Bahria Town’s management, they didn’t address the situation.
“The building collapsed while the labourers were working there, but we were lucky in getting them out safely before the building went down. It happened due to water pooling under the foundations of the plaza, weakening them in the process,” he added.
The tenant told Pakistan Today that the plaza collapsed before his eyes and a number of people had witnessed the incident as it happened. “All the people working in the shops had been evacuated safely,” he confirmed.
An eyewitness said that the Bahria Town security was nowhere to be seen while the building was going down. However, they arrived at the site after some time and took charge of the situation. He also added that they had a scuffle with the plaza’s owners.
The plaza tenant made an impassioned plea to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and asked him to provide justice to him.
Meanwhile, Shoaib Younus, Head of Marketing at DWP Group, confirmed that a plaza rented by his company had “collapsed due to digging on its side,” adding that the contractor removed all the soil without providing support to the plaza with any kind of pillars or beams. He added that the management of Bahria Town was also looking into the incident.
When contacted, the Bahria Town management refused to comment on the situation.