Satis plan has ‘no entry’ for fire engines to Thane station

Times of India: Thane: Thursday, 22 January 2015.

A Right To Information (RTI) query has revealed that fire tenders cannot reach the west side of Thane station in case of an emergency, owing to construction flaws of the Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (SATIS).

The Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) fire department confirmed that a fire tender cannot attend to an emergency situation as it is not possible for them to enter the station through Satis from either side - B Cabin, ST stand or Shivaji Chowk.

In case of an emergency, the fire engine will have to take the wrong side from the exit of the flyover at Talaopali signal, blocking movement of public buses. Civil experts said that Satis is built at such a low height that fire tenders cannot reach the station.

A retired bridge expert said, "This was wrong planning and the TMC failed to rectify the initial fault of not foreseeing that fire tenders cannot enter the station due to the faulty construction plan. Now there is no way of taking a corrective action. The station area is also heavily encroached upon."

Meanwhile, the fire department has declared that the standard safety norms have been violated at Satis. In the RTI reply, the fire officials mentioned that the fire engine cannot reach the station from any side as the B-Cabin, ST stand, post office and Shivaji Chowk access are encroached upon by vehicles.