Karachi: DHA not to okay building plans sans emergency exits

[Naveed Yaseen]

KARACHI: In the future, no building plan in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) will be approved without the provision of emergency exits as per the amended DHA construction by-laws.

Meeting a delegation of the Association of Defence Residents (ADR) led by ADR President Capt ® Kamal-Al Karimi, DHA Administrator Khalid Tirmizi spoke about the decision while discussing various problems faced by the residents. Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) Chief Executive Officer Zeenat Ahmed, along with DHA and CBC officials, was also present at the meeting.

Tirmizi asked Zeenat to ask the Cineplex management for making arrangements for the provision of the requisite emergency exits and availability of fire fighting equipment at the site in order to face any disaster in the future.

Tirmizi assured the ADR delegation that the provision of a secure and safe living environment to DHA residents was their top most priority. “DHA is installing surveillance cameras and security gadgets in the area. We are also negotiating with various private security agencies to work out a viable security plan for DHA,” said Tirmizi. Recollecting his recent visit to CBC’s katchi abadis, he applauded Zeenat and her staff for taking dynamic actions to tackle the problems faced by the slum area’s residents. He said that development plans formulated by CBC on war footing basis for the uplift of katchi abadis were highly commendable.

DHA Project Director Brig ® Iftikhar Haider said that sixteen contracts pertaining to road repair/reconstruction projects have been awarded to various contractors adding that the reconstruction work in Khayaban-e-Shamsheer and Khayaban-e-Badar would be completed soon. ppi

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