The Fire and Rescue Services office-cum-station, functioning in a rented premises in Velachery since inception in 2014, will move into its own building as the government has allotted land.
The fire station has been operating with minimal facilities from a cement-roofed small building belonging to the Velachery Annai Indira Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association (VAINRWA). The building suffered from space constraints with the fire vehicle parked on the road because of lack of dedicated parking space.
S. Kumararaja, an office-bearer of the residents welfare association, said the allotment of land in the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) layout located near Velachery lake had been long pending.
“When the then Velachery MLA M.K. Ashok had requested the members of VAINRWA to allot a space ‘temporarily’ until land in the TNHB layout was allotted, we immediately gave the space designated for Open Space Reservation (OSR). Since the area was fast developing, we were afraid that if there was no land, the station could be moved to some other locality,” he recalled.
A senior official of the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services said that they had been provided with land for a fire station at the TNHB layout. “We will be sending a proposal to Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation to construct a building. It will house the fire station,” said the officer.
