Islamabad - The Emergency and Disaster Management directorate of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad has expressed serious concerns over being bypassed by the other departments at the stage of issuance of NOCs and completion certificates regarding construction of new houses, commercial buildings and shopping malls in the city.

According to the officials at the directorate, the the buildings being issued NOCs don’t even fulfil the basic criteria under the by-laws. Additional Director E&DM, Ammad-ud-Din Muhammad told this scribe that the Building Control Section of the CDA was not taking the E&DM unit into confidence when it comes to issuance of NOCs which he said is a violation of the laws. He said that taking E&DM out of the loop would encourage the owners to resort to violation of the by-laws. BCS and other departments of the CDA issue NOCs and completion certificate to the building owners at different stages of construction and after completion.

In separate letters to the director BCS, Law department, Secretary CDA Board and Chief Officer MCI, the Additional Director stated that under the Islamabad fire prevention standards, it is mandatory for each of the owner to get NOC from the Emergency department to check sub-standard construction and ensure that every building has proper life safety measures in place. However, he said the other departments were busy in issuing NOCs and completion certificates to the investors without having input of the Emergency directorate in each case. The additional director has requested the high ups at the CDA not to issue NOC until safety measures are in place. He said that the unit has been striving since long to ensure life safety measures in the city buildings.

In 2017, the CDA had asked State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) of Pakistan to seek life safety certificates issued by its Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate (E&DM), before payment of insurance claims to the clients. The step was taken to enforce the CDA building standards for fire prevention and life safety, 2010.

The Emergency and Disaster management directorate inspects, advises and technically assists the owners and occupants in making their premises safe to ensure safety of life in case of a natural or manmade calamity.