aharashtra, the third most urbanised state in the country, may face the fire-safety challenge in the pursuit of its smart city dream. The state’s preparedness for fire disasters is poor with shortages of equipment and personnel, official data show.
Maharashtra has a shortage of 20,048 items used to control fires. It is second to Uttar Pradesh, which needs 21,058 items. In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, the shortage is 19,590, 17,347, and 16,849 respectively, according to the figures given by the Union Home Ministry in response to a question by Member of Parliament PL Punia in the Rajya Sabha.
Maharashtra is also among the top five states when it comes to paucity of personnel in rural areas.
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In urban areas, it is short of 21,478 staff, and for the rural areas, the requirement is of 26,601. Besides, the state needs 504 fire tenders.
Mumbai, which is the frontrunner for the Centre’s smart city scheme, has reported many serious fire accidents in the past, the recent one being in a high rise at Andheri’s Link Road where an 80-year-old woman died while another person was seriously injured on Tuesday midnight.
A few days prior to that, the Damu Nagar slum in Kandivali was destroyed in a blaze.
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In the recently-concluded Assembly session, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis underscored his government’s seriousness about implementing security and safety. He said the BMC would conduct fire audits of public buildings in Mumbai. The government also intends to frame guidelines and make amendments to the 2003 National Fire Act.
However, BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar, who raised the issue in the Assembly, warned against one-size-fits-all approach. “They will conduct a fire audit, but what are they doing for fire proofing? Do we have any plan that can factor in the population density of Mumbai, its narrow lanes, and industrial areas which are high-risk? There is nothing. Some of the fire equipment is purchased because it is foreign-made and not necessarily because it suits the city’s specific needs.”
Congested roads and old buildings pose unique problems. “Old buildings do not have parking lots. So people park on the roads. What is our preparedness for this? The national building code should be different for cities, towns, suburbs, and extended suburbs,” Mr. Sagar pointed out.
He said occupancy certificates for high rises need to be renewed yearly, but the renewal is done without proper checks.
Before the Damu Nagar incident, a fire had broken out in south Mumbai’s busy Crawford market in October.
Not even the seat of the government is safe, as was seen from the 2012 Mantralaya fire in which offices of the Urban Development Department secretaries, the Chief Minister, and the Deputy Chief Minister were gutted, and three top floors were damaged.
Minister of Home (State) Ranjit Patil said there was a serious shortage of manpower, equipment, and capacity building infrastructure in rural and urban areas.
The only solution is to monitor installations of equipment in slum-dominated urban areas and better infrastructure in rural areas. Maharashtra needs more funds from the Centre, he said. “I admit this is a serious problem of shortage, and I had taken stock of this a month ago. We have given instructions to tailor-make fire fighting equipment for slum areas in Mumbai and better training of staff in rural areas. We don’t want to simply give permission to reckless installations of equipment, but to have local bodies and municipalities apply their minds better in this regard,” Mr Patil told The Hindu .
He said, “In the next one and a half years, Mumbai is set to get 14 fire engines, 11 water tankers, and one 81-metre hydraulic platform from Finland.” Fire department officials, however, said there was no shortage of equipment in Mumbai and that recruitments to increase the manpower are under way. Mumbai currently has 34 fire stations and 26 more are required. In terms of personnel, around 2,500 are needed.
Prabhat Rahangdale, Chief Fire Officer of the Mumbai Fire Brigade, said they have a strategy in place so that the response time is not affected.
“We have a plan ready for 10 years. Wherever there are black holes, like Malabar Hill and Navy Nagar, mini fire engines stand on guard so that professional help reaches in time. And if back-up is needed, it is taken from the main fire station. The mini fire engine units also come equipped with multipurpose tools,” Mr Rahangdale said.
BMC would conduct
fire audits of public buildings in Mumbai, CM said in the Assembly session