KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday directed the provincial chief secretary, finance secretary and local government secretary to appear before it to as to why the firefighters of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) were not paid fire risk allowance.

A division bench headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan was hearing the plea of civil rights activists and lawyers Advocate Nadeem Shaikh and Shua-un-Nabi who had sought the court’s directives for release of fire risk allowance.

During the hearing, the court expressed its displeasure when it learnt that the firefighters had not been paid the fire risk allowance despite its directives. Summoning the above mentioned bureaucrats on Tuesday (today), the bench directed them to apprise the court about the reason for not releasing fire risk allowance.

The court had on Feb 09, had directed the provincial chief secretary, local government secretary and finance secretary to ensure the payment of fire risk allowance within a period of one month and warned that the all above mentioned respondents will be summoned in case of non-compliance of the court’s order.

Earlier, the court was informed that 1,200 firefighters of Karachi were not being paid fire risk allowance for last several months yet they were performing their duties by keeping their lives on danger.