Karachi University’s Computer Lab Collapses

The roof of Karachi University’s (KU) computer lab collapsed on Friday and damaged expensive equipment and furnishings inside.

Fortunately, no casualty was reported as the incident is said to have occurred when the lab was unoccupied.

The Department Incharge, Farhat Hussain, stated, “25 computers, the entire furniture in the lab, and two air conditioners have been completely destroyed.”

“I was at the site from 12 noon when this incident occurred till 5 PM. None of the walls fell, though lab’s roof caved in,” he asserted and rejected claims about a student getting injured in the incident.

Officials said that the lab of the Library and Information Science Department, which is situated on the first floor of the Arts Faculty, had been unused for over three years.

Hussain affirmed that the lab had been shut down three or four years ago when KU ended an academic computer program. He added that no department had been notified about the condition of its roof because the people concerned were unaware that it could collapse.

However, a teacher revealed that the roof of the computer lab was supposed to have been repaired last year but the contractor had just stacked around 4,000 bricks, 25 bags of cement, and two dumpers of concrete on the computer lab’s roof, because of which it had crashed down.

Dawn News quoted a senior university official saying, “The lab was built in 2007. It collapsed because it wasn’t an RCC (concrete reinforced cement) construction. The university’s engineering department has carried out the assessment of the fallen structure and will submit its report to the vice chancellor on Monday.”

He added that there are several such structures on the KU campus.

Other sources said several classrooms, labs, and buildings on campus are crumbling and the computer lab was not an old building.

Associate Professor of Applied Chemistry, Dr. Riaz Ahmed, had reportedly warned earlier this month that such an incident could take place. He had written to the administration about the Department of Library and Information Science in particular and had notified it that the dilapidated roofs of several departments could collapse.

Dr. Ahmed had also highlighted that the entire roof of the Applied Chemistry Department had been leaking because of the recent torrential rains and detailed that the plaster was peeling and debris keeps falling from the ceiling every day. He had urged the administration to take heed of concerns that the roof of the barracks could collapse suddenly.

Dr. Ghufran Alam of the Karachi University Teachers’ Society (KUTS) remarked “Perhaps, the university administration is waiting for a tragedy.”

He demanded that KU’s administration immediately conduct a detailed professional evaluation of all the buildings and classrooms as the lives of thousands of students, teachers and non-teaching staff are at risk because of their poor conditions.

“Infrastructure of several departments is in shambles, including that of the Petroleum Technology Department, the Mathematics department, and the Physiology Department. The university administration must understand that carrying out repairs is not enough and there is an urgent need for a professional assessment of the infrastructure,” Dr. Ghufran concluded.