Secretary Local Government, Housing and Town Planning, Government of Sindh Najam Ahmad Shah has said that no compromise on human lives is acceptable, lives lost in collapsed buildings is a great loss.
He was addressing a high-level meeting at the office of the Sindh Building Control Authority in which he was accompanied by Additional Secretary Housing and Town Planning Jamaluddin Jalalani.
After the briefing given by DG SBCA, Secretary said that the trend of collapsing buildings is not acceptable in any case, the loss of human lives and property is very unfortunate.
Najam Ahmad Shah categorically said that the Sindh government could not afford any more loss of life, so it is immediately ordered that every concerned town officer of SBCA should submit full details of the dilapidated buildings in his area with in 48 hours and detailed briefing will be taken from DG SBCA afterwards. No negligence or laziness in this matter will be accepted and no excuse will be obliged.
The Sindh Local Government Secretary inspected in detail all the departments, laws and organizational structure of the Sindh Building Control Authority and got information on the scope and powers of the institution. Najam Ahmad Shah said that all officers and departments of Sindh Building Control Authority should focus on improving their performance, transparency and timely completion of projects should be ensured in all cases.
Sindh Local Government Secretary clarified that illegal infrastructures should not be created under any circumstances, those who endanger people’s lives and property are not forgivable, people’s lifetime earnings will not be allowed to be wasted like this, Najam Ahmed said. Shah directed the DG SBCA to be fully aware of the legal action being taken against the demolished illegal buildings, compile performance statistics from time to time and correct irregularities. Patrons, owners and facilitators of illegal buildings should be stopped immediately, Legal powers and jurisdiction should be used to the fullest and positively, no recommendation or pressure will be accepted.
The Secretary Local Government said in no uncertain terms that every officer should perform his duty with utmost honesty and diligence, unless strict action is taken against the perpetrators of illegal constructions, the situation will not change. To enable, documentation and content to be harmonized with IT, institutional reform and improvement on a serious basis is required.
Najam Ahmad Shah clarified that construction NOC and QR codes should be advertised on every building under construction from start to completion via large board, and details of floors to be constructed, covered area and other information should also be made public so that illegal buildings and the trend of illegal floors can be rooted out.
The Sindh Local Government Secretary clarified that the Sindh Building Control Authority should launch a mobile application for the convenience of the people and use social networking websites and modern technology for proper publicity of legal projects so that the public could be save from Scams.
Later, Secretary Local Government Housing and Town Planning Sindh Najam Ahmad Shah visited various departments and public counters of Sindh Building Control Authority.
On this occasion, Najam Shah interacted with the people, asked them about the available facilities and also reviewed the performance of the officers.
