Security flaws at Quaid-e-Azam Park led to loss of lives
An ill-planned lake, the absence of life guards and security guards, and poor administrative measures at the Quaid-e-Azam Park in Steel Town were blamed for the deaths of two children on Saturday. Pakistan Steel (PS) is “only concerned about making money and does not bothered about the ‘death well’ lying at the centre of the park,” said the father of one of the victim’s father.
Shafiq-Ur-Rehman, the father of 16-year-old Abdullah Wajid (one of the children who drowned in park on Saturday), termed the lake a ‘death well’ and questioned the administration over the lack of safety measures at the park. “The PS is making a lot of money from this park but despite the fact that the park is mostly visited by schoolchildren, they have not deployed any divers or guards to keep an eye on the kids or deal with emergencies like the one that happened on Saturday,” he said.
He hoped that authorities concerned would now get serious about security at the part. He seemed reluctant to lodge an FIR about the incident, and said that it would probably not be worth the hassle.
Anwer Ahmed, the uncle of 15-year-old Muhammad Zaheer (the other victim on Saturday), maintained that there was no sign board for the information of general public regarding the depth of the water. “The lake was some 35 to 40 feet deep at the centre and the slopes at the bank were ill-planned. Anyone can slip once they step on to the slope,” Ahmed said. “What happened to us cannot be compensated, we only demand from them to assure the best possible safety measures at the park from now on, so that such incidents are not repeated.”
Both children were residents of Gulzar Colony, Korangi, and were studying at the Iqra Anis Ul Atfal in the same area. They were on a school picnic on Saturday when Zaheer went to the bank of the lake to wash his feet and slipped into the water. Since there was no one to help Zaheer, Wajid himself jumped into the water to save his friend. He slipped too and drowned. Their bodies were fished out by divers from the Pakistan Navy 10 hours later. The administration of the park reportedly had absolutely no arrangement to respond to an emergency of this sort, and local divers who managed to swim as deep as 20 feet also failed to recover the bodies, saying they could not get to the surface and they did not have oxygen cylinders for this kind of depth.
“I went to save Zaheer and nearly drowned when a man pulled me up in the nick of time,” said Kashif Ali, friend of the two victims. “We then asked the gatekeeper to rescue our friend but they had no guards to help us. Then Wajid jumped in and he drowned too.”
“I asked gatekeeper how safe the place was and he assured me that the place was safe,” said Shabir Ahmed, one of the teachers who were the children. He did not know how deep the lake was, either. “Three female teachers also fainted. We called for help, but the park administration turned a deaf ear to us. I asked the gatekeeper to help us, but he was busy selling tickets to visitors and sent me to the ticket window. The man there could not do anything either,” Ahmed said.
The Steel Town Police maintained that it was an accident and not a security issue. Teachers, relatives of the victims, and eyewitnesses claim otherwise, however. A survey of the place proved the latter to be true.
The investigating officer (IO) of the case, Panwar Kumar, also conceded that there were many security faults at the place. “A picnic point should not be that deep and they had insufficient security for visitors,” Kumar said. “They had no arrangements for rescue operations.”
Source: The News
Date:4/7/2008
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