Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharita on Thursday inaugurated an additional floor at the Srikakulam fire station.
The building, constructed at a cost of ₹48.50 lakh, will enable the fire department to respond more efficiently to emergencies, the Minister said, adding that the State government was giving utmost priority to the modernisation of the A.P. Disaster Response and Fire Service Department.
The Home Minister said that there are 185 fire stations in the State, some of which need to be modernised. She congratulated Srikakulam District Fire Officer Ch. Kripavaram, Assistant Fire Officers B.J.D.S. Prasant Kumar and K. Srinu Babu for their commendable work for the people of Uddanam region during Cyclone Titli which caused devastation in October 2018.
Director General Hasan Raja spoke on the department’s achievements, such as saving property worth ₹10.81 crore in various fire accidents.
Later, Ms. Sucharita inaugurated a new fire station at Kothavalasa in Vizianagaram district. In Vizianagaram, she told reporters that the police department was providing 87 services to the people through the Police Seva app.
The Minister said that the government was committed for the welfare of the police, an indication of which was the introduction of the weekly off system. She said that the government was mulling the establishment of a police training college in the State as there was no such institution after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
She interacted with Deputy Chief Minister Pamula Pushpa Srivani, Parvatipuram MLA A. Joga Rao, Vizianagaram MLA Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy and S. Kota MLA Kadubandi Srinivasa Rao.
Dig at SEC
The Minister said that the State Election Commission seemed to be in a hurry conduct local body elections when thousands of COVID-19 positive cases were being reported each day. “The Commission postponed elections without conducting an all-party meeting when there were only 26 positive cases in the State. But now, it is conducting such meetings when thousands of cases are still active. This has exposed the double standards of the Commission,” Ms. Sucharita said.
