The Hans India: Kurnool: Sunday, February 26, 2017.
Fire Services
department is ill-equipped to face major fire accidents that occur in the
district due to lack of sufficient fire stations.
Out of the
required 75 fire stations, only 12 fire stations are functioning and these
stations are unable to meet the requirements of the district’s population.
Besides, the less number of fire stations, the department is also facing staff
crunch.
It is learnt
that several vacancies are lying vacant and there is no recruitment for the
past few years. According to an estimate, the required number of fire tenders
as per habitations should have been at least 80 but their number at present is
17.
These facts
came to light after Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) sought information
through Right to Information (RTI) Act. Speaking to The Hans India, an official
of the Fire services department said that though there is a staff crunch, the
same is being substituted with home guards.
The home
guards have been trained since 2008 and they have been doing a good job, he
added. Adding to it, the officer said that there is a demand for every mandal
headquarters to have a fire station.
Setting up a
station at mandal headquarters is a far away issue, we don’t have a fire
station even as per the number of Assembly constituencies. There are no fire
stations at Nandikotkur and Mantralayam, he added.
According to
another official, there is an urgent need to establish new fire stations at
Mantralayam, Peauply, Koilakuntla, Nandikotkur, Panyam and Orvakal with enough
number of staff.
The
government should allocate two new fire tenders each besides making arrangement
for water required at Pathkionda and Adoni stations. Over 75 fire stations are
required as per district population for better and fast services.