Secondary Education Minister K. Parthasarathy laid a foundation stone for a fire station near Police Control Room here on Wednesday. He also inaugurated a Fire Control Room at Arundalpet here, and class rooms at APJ Abdul Kalam Municipal Corporation Urdu School. The class rooms were constructed at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh.
On the occasion, he said that all the fire stations in the district were linked with a fire control room.
There were 23 fire stations in the district. Following requests, and keeping in view the several fire accidents, proposals were sent to set up stations at Kankipadu, Pamidimukkala, Challapalli, Chatrai, Mopidevi, Gudlavalleru, Pedana, Chandarlapadu in rural areas, and at Bhavanipuram, Benz Circle, Gunadala, Jakkampudi and Satyanarayanapuram in the city, he said, adding, the new fire stations would be set up shortly.
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The government was taking initiatives to modernise and strengthen the fire stations across the State.
The government had earmarked Rs. 1 crore for the fire station to be constructed near the control room. Explaining about fire accidents in the district, he said as many as 123 major and 1,727 minor fire outbreaks took place in 2010 resulting in a loss of Rs. 7.53 crrore.
The timely response of fire services saved properties worth of Rs. 11.15 crore. While 27 people lost their lives, 91 people were saved, he said.
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This year, 1,211 accidents took place incurring a loss of Rs. 8.87 crore.
The fire services saved properties worth of Rs. 19.42 crore, and 90 lives. However, 40 people lost their lives, he added.
MLC Ilapuram Venkaiah, Vijayawada (Central) MLA Malladi Vishnu, Municipal Commissioner G. Ravi Babu, Regional Fire Officer P. Ravinder Reddy, fire officers S.V. Choudary, Srinivasa Rao, Sudhakara Rao, Gnananda Rao, Municipal Corporation Fire Officer B.N. Prasad were present.