Times of
India: Mumbai: Tuesday, September 25, 2018.
The
Mumbai Fire Brigade has nearly 927 vacant posts. The response to an RTI query
has revealed the vacant posts include officers from the rank of deputy fire
officers to firemen.
Of
the total 3,807 posts, 2,880 posts are filled, but 927 are vacant. Shakeel
Ahmed, founder of NGO Adhikar Foundation, who had filed the RTI query, said,
“Fire brigade teams are mobilised during all major incidents in the city and
not just fire incidents. They are even responsible for attending to bird rescue
operations and drowning cases. Therefore, it is very important the force has
adequate personnel. If so many posts have been created, what is the point in
leaving them vacant?”
However,
chief fire officer PS Rahangdale said they had been regularly inducting
officers, but the recruitment procedures were lengthy. “Till the time we
provide adequate training and induct firemen into the force, a lot of staff
retires as well. This is a continuous cycle,” he said.