Velachery, for all its phenomenal growth has remained lacking when it came to one essential service: a fire station. Finally, the wait is over as a fire station has been opened recently, and residents, in order to speed things up, found space for it in the old premises of Annai Indira Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association.
S. Kumararaja, vice president of the association, said a request was made by Velachery MLA M.K. Ashok in a residents’ meeting held in August to find a place for stationing the fire equipment and staff. He suggested this, as the proposal to open a fire station had been pending for a long time despite the announcement in the Assembly by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
S. Kanakaraj, secretary of the association, said it was proposed to handover the association premises after the Fire department authorities discovered that the space allotted for a fire station within the Tamil Nadu Housing Board quarters would take a while to be ready.
A senior official of the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service said recently, four new fire stations were opened in the city — in Velachery, Thoraipakkam, Maduravoyal and Virugambakkam — on December 4. He said this move was part of upgrading these areas into new Assembly constituencies
However, the Velachery fire station suffers from deficiencies like a lack of parking space for the fire vehicle, no restrooms for the fire personnel and not even a telephone connection. An official of the Fire station said that at present the fire engine was being parked on the road.
A member of the association suggested that vacant land belonging to the Chennai Corporation is available nearby and it could be used for parking the vehicle.
