Open House: What should be done to improve fire safety infrastructure and better service in Amritsar?

Need to equip city with modern machines

Our city is developing by leaps and bounds, but the firefighting services are not up to the mark. Fire defusing equipment is rarely available at many buildings and it is horrible to note that a smart city like ours is not equipped with modern machines needed to defuse fires. There have been many cases of fire incidents in the past and recently in which huge losses were reported. Even some people lost their precious lives. The Fire Department must have latest equipment to control and extinguish fires. The concerned authorities should take this requirement seriously and acquire ultramodern equipment for large cities such as Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. All industries are working for the development of our state and country and the government must come to the rescue of all industrialists by providing them safety kits. The concerned Municipal Corporation must have all sufficient staff and other modern facilities to handle fire incidents anywhere in the city. Fire-fighting staff must be trained periodically at some specialised training centres. Corporation’s concerned department must ensure that the final building plan is approved only if the prescribed and required conditions for fire safety are fulfilled. During summer, fire incidents are more frequent, and all cities have narrow and congested areas where firefighting is difficult without latest equipment such as hydraulic ladders. For controlling fires, the local government body must provide latest equipment, along with recruiting personnel, to address such problems. Residents’ cooperation can also help in this regard to a great extent.

EL Singh

Take media’s help to highlight issue

A fire incident always results in devastation. In order to awaken those responsible from their deep slumber to provide with better fire services and create a secure environment for the people, public from across the city should definitely meet them, create awareness among them regarding losses already suffered by the residents due to fire and assert them to take effective and concrete steps at the earliest. The people can assert for installation of fire extinguishers by them. Also help of media can be taken to highlight the issue to such an extent that persons responsible be forced to take immediate action. Also it’s ironic when the government has got money to buy more machines and hire more employees then why it is in deep slumber regarding the serious matter?

Sanjay Chawla

Adopt suggestions of advisory panel

Answer to this question lies in the question itself, as the opening line starts “…the state lacks manpower and machines.” As per the recommendations of a Centre’s standing fire advisory committee, a ratio of population with number of fire station had been provided for the authorities. For a city like Amritsar with a population of over 12 lakh, it is advised to maintain at least 24 fire stations. But the city has only four fire stations. In the last two decades, our city got all round expansion with numerous colonies coming up but since 1970, no fire station has been set up. Moreover, city fire stations take care of rural areas also and local fire stations take calls from neighbouring areas such as Khemkaran, covering a distance of 65 km, and even go to places such as Sri Hargobind Sahib, 70-km from the city. Now, high-rise buildings are also coming up in the city but the required machinery is not provided to control fire for such buildings. In a recent incident, a 20-ft lane was not provided to a five star hotel coming up just opposite the railway station. Such negligence on the part of the Municipal Town Planning Department creates hindrance for the Fire Fighting Department in performing their duty. All buildings — government or private — are required to follow safety measures listed in Chapter 4 of the National Building Code. Similarly, there are special provisions for hospitals too but these too are neglected.

Naresh Johar

Ensure functional fire safety system

Amritsar used to have a good fire brigade system with numerous fire hydrants and almost instant reaction time, but then the city fell into total neglect. The recent addition of new fire stations is welcome. However, preventive action should always remain the priority. Rampant encroachment upon road space and haphazard parking can cost us high in the long run as fire brigades complain of difficulty in reaching the spot due to narrow lanes and other such issues. The municipal authorities should ensure that every shop, workshop, school or office has a functional fire extinguishing system in place. The staff should also be well trained on how to use the equipment. It must be of the right category and must be in easy reach of all. The whole thrust of the argument is to prevent any such incidents and minimise the losses. Nobody can predict the course of a fire.

Prof Mohan Singh

People must question political leaders

In the searing heat of the present situation, fire services need more vehicles and water resources. Many fire incidents are being reported in the city and surrounding areas resulting in loss of lives and property. The political parties and their leaders are interested only in vote bank politics. They have no concern for the welfare of the people. Budget for the fire services are meagre. Even fire service officials urge the government to increase their budget allocations. But it hardly awakens the sleeping government. In addition to that, streets and lanes of the old city very narrow so much so that fire tenders can’t go through these streets easily. Fire service officials are on their duty round the clock and do their duty sincerely and manfully. Fires not only destroy property and lives, but also cause health hazards as smoke leads to bronchitis, asthma and hypertension. Many a times the fumes cause vehicular accidents resulting in more loss of lives. Only solution to this problem is that people should question the political leaders during election time as to what they are doing to augment fire services in the city and nearby areas. This might awaken the slumbering leaders and ministers. In America and Europe, there are separate lanes for fire services in all institutions and markets so that the loss of lives and property could be prevented. Perhaps it can’t be implemented in our beleaguered country.

Dr JS Wadhwa

Govt must upgrade firefighting infra

A democratically elected government works for the welfare of the people, but most government departments in Punjab have not come to their expectations due to perennial malfunctioning. It is the responsibility of the municipal authorities to ensure the safety of residents and their property. But it is a pity that they are often found incapable of handling a fire emergency, courtesy ill-equipped infrastructure and lethargic and apathetic work force. Repeated complaints and requests to improve and modernise the existing municipal fire system have failed to elicit a positive response from the authorities. Ideally, the fire brigade system should be in sound “fit-for-service” condition at all times. To provide a swift, safe and seamless response to fire incidents, the government should take all possible steps to upgrade the firefighting infrastructure, replace all non-functional, crippling hydrants, manage the shortage of staff, provide new protective clothes and give adequate compensation in case of any injury, burns or death. The fire service officials should properly check fire safety devices in schools, factories, marriage palaces, cinemas, hotels and other places and then issue NOCs. In case of any dereliction of duty, they should be held accountable. The electricity department should be more active as an increased number of fires are initiated by powerlines in dry months. The public should be sensitised to be more careful, have sufficient fire control equipment in their homes, offices and other places, and be fully prepared to ensure their own safety.

Simran & Tajpreet S Kang

Shut old structures lacking safety guards

Leaving apart a major fire incident of 1995 at Mandi Dabwali where a school function was in progress at a marriage palace when fire broke out claiming over 400 lives of students, a few more fire mishaps have occurred causing extensive damage to life and property. Quite recently, an incident of fire at a marriage palace in Karnal was reported, in which luckily there was no loss of life but it reminds that we have learnt no lesson from the mistakes of past and the vital security safeguards continue to be ignored as such. While at construction, people don’t mind spending a substantial amount to lend attractive look to the structural layout but very less emphasis is laid to prevent fire or any disaster. The officials responsible to ensure safety measures are in deep slumber and wake up only when an incident happens. Notably, the state fire services are ill-equipped and lack both manpower and machines to confront any adverse situation. With the high degree of risk perception, all old structures, and wedding banquets failing to comply with prescribed safety standards should be shut. As the life and security of people is paramount, new buildings without proper security measures and fire safety equipment installed should be totally banned. To ensure secure living environment for the people, the government must accord due attention and earmark adequate funds to make state fire services robust and well equipped to undertake disaster management in an efficient and efficacious manner.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Introduce training for firefighters

With increasing population, urbanisation and development, many high rise and multi-storeyed buildings have come up in the cities and towns of Punjab. The frequent reporting of fire cases involving huge loss of lives and property has exposed deep loopholes in the state’s fire fighting and disaster management system. It brings the performance of the municipal corporations under a scanner. Despite clear-cut rules and government claims, the fire brigades do not have adequate well-trained manpower and modern high-tech machinery to effectively deal with the challenging situation. Neither the concerned officials nor the politicians are serious about the safety and security of the regular taxpayers. The only excuse is the paucity of government funds. But actually, our civic bodies have become dens of corruption. Inefficient and incapable officers who connive with councillors rule the roost. More often than not, the existing machinery the Local Government Department is found to be dysfunctional; it is neither repaired nor replaced in time. Whenever a fire emergency arises, the authorities are not well-equipped to deal with the situation. The government should introduce fire services reforms such as purchase of new machinery, recruitment of regular staff and new training programmes for fire fighters. Educated citizens, NGOs, civil society and other stakeholders should make concerted efforts to put pressure on authorities. The government department should spread fire safety awareness among people so that they can secure their lives and property.

DS Kang

Fire services should be provided by state

Presently, fire services in the state are provided by MCs/local bodies which have generally failed to upgrade the services to meet new challenges. The services should be brought directly under the state government to provide uniform coverage beyond the municipal boundaries. The services with latest technology and infrastructure should be managed by fully-trained state cadre fire officers. There should be a real time 24×7 helpline number, based upon GPS technology, which should be linked online with the nearest available fire services to reach the location in shortest possible time. Moreover, all types of fully-defined emergencies should be attended to by services to reach the spot for quick relief and assessment of integrated action plan to be followed by other connected agencies.

Jagdish Chander

QUESTION

With International Yoga Day falling on June 21, what should be done to encourage more people to adopt yoga in their daily lives for better mental and physical health? What steps should be taken by the government and civic bodies to promote yoga?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to amritsardesk@tribunemail.com by Thursday (June 16)