LAHORE, Sep 18 (APP):Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Kashif Anwar has urged the government to compensate losses of the affected shopkeepers of PACE (a shopping centre in the provincial capital) fire incident and their shops should be returned to them immediately as they are facing serious financial difficulties.

He was talking to a delegation, headed by former president of PACE Gulberg Muhammad Irfan Latif. Other members of the delegation included executive committee members of PACE, Muhammad Ehtshamuddin, Zafar Iqbal, Rizwan Majeed Butt and others.

Kashif Anwar said that the concerns of traders should be removed immediately and their shops should be handed over to them. The delegation informed the LCCI president that they had suffered huge financial losses due to the fire at PACE. They demanded that they should be given immediate access to their shops, to clean them up and to resume business.

The delegation said that according to the assessment report of Structure Engineer Mirza Rizwan, the structure of the PACE building was not damaged by the fire and it was safe for use. The reports concludes: “This clearly shows that there is no statistical conclusion to support the hypothesis that the fire has damaged the structure of the building.” They said that there are 408 shops in PACE which have been sealed by the LDA.

The LDA takes action when shopkeepers try to access the shops even though the administration is running the parking lot. They said that the shops should be returned immediately to save the traders from bankruptcy. They  further said that a separate electricity meter should be installed for each shop.

LCCI President Kashif Anwar appealed to the government to support the PACE traders. He said that the Lahore Chamber fully supports the businessmen and in this regard, he has also written letters to the Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi and the ministers concerned.