KARACHI: Authorities have disconnected civic facilities including electricity, gas and water lines to the high-rise Nasla Tower, a day after the Supreme Court ordered to demolish the building.
Karachi Commissioner Iqbal Memon has called a meeting of experts and officials to decide on the safest way to demolish the Nasla Tower in a controlled detonation and maintain the law and order. A team of the Pakistan Army’s engineers will brief the meeting on the use of controlled detonation.
A day earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed told authorities to to demolish the building within one week. The top jude also ordered that water and electricity connections to the building be disconnected by October 27 (tomorrow).
Karachi Commissioner has invited NED Univerity Vice-Chancellor and other engineering experts to the meeting. He has sought technical and seismic feasibility and ground support for the demolition process from the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) of the Pakistan Army.
The meeting will also be attended by officials from the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KSWB), Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), and Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB).
READ MORE: CJP orders to demolish Karachi’s Nasla Tower within a week
Sindh Rangers and Police officials including Deputy Commissioner East and Assistant Commissioner Firozabadhave also been invited to the meeting to formulate a strategy to maintain the law and order. The occupants of the high-rise building have vowed to resist the demolition operation and have staged a protest outside the building.
Commissioner Memon says the demolition is to be carried out in compliance with the Supreme Court order. He said the administrative arrangements are being expedited in view of the court’s order. He said that his monitoring the operation the operation and a report will be submitted to the Supreme Court after the execution of the Nasla Tower demolition operation
The 15-storey residential building lies at the intersection of Main Shahrah-e-Faisal and Sharah-e-Quaideen and was declared illegal by the apex court earlier this year. The district administration served notices on the residents of Nasla Tower earlier this month to vacate the building by Wednesday, October 27.
