ANANTAPUR: Lack of sufficient funds for maintenance and fuel of vehicles and shortage of staff have been crippling the functioning of the Fire Services Department in the district.

In spite of officials' claims that all the 12 fire tenders in the district are in working condition, lack of funds for their maintenance has been affecting the response time in case of any accident.

The district has fire stations at Anantapur, Tadipatri, Rayadurg, Kalyanadurg, Uravakonda, Guntakal, Dharmavaram, Penukonda, Puttaparthi, Madakasira, Hindupur and Kadiri.

Against the sanctioned strength of 13, the district has 12 vehicles carrying fire-fighting paraphernalia.

One of the two vehicles of Anantapur station was deputed to a new station opened at Molakalacheruvu in neighbouring Chittoor district last year, and there is no proposal to replace it. Severe shortage of staff, 70 in all, is also adding to the woes of the department.

"Only one fire tender made rounds to get water every time it exhausted. As a result, it took a long time to put off the fire in our office," said a State Government officer, whose office caught fire two months ago.

Similar was the fate of a couple of major fire accidents that occurred in Nallamada and Kalyanadurg areas recently.

Against a sanctioned strength of three drivers to each vehicle, the district has 15 vacancies. Similarly, there are a large number of vacancies of firemen, who actually take up the task of fire fighting.

Besides, five of the 12 fire stations in the district are being run with in-charges due to vacancy of Station Fire Officer posts.

Mounting arrears

Sources in the department say that the diesel bill of Rs. 2.4 lakhs is overdue to petrol filling stations for 2005-06, as it pertained to the fuel used in excess of the budget allotment.

Another Rs. 30,000 is due to different garages in lieu of repairs and maintenance to fire tenders. Some SFOs were arranging money for maintenance from their salary.

"SFOs are at the mercy of private petrol filling stations for their diesel needs. As the filling stations refuse to provide credit for long, the Anantapur SFO had to plead owners of four fuel stations to get credit during the last four months," sources said.

The financial position of Dharmavaram and Guntakal fire stations is also critical.

No TA, DA

Shortage of funds has never allowed employees to claim TA and DA for attending to fire mishaps that occurred beyond 8 km of their fire station for long.

The Anantapur station is at the mercy of the civic body for emergency water needs as its storage tank is in a dilapidated condition.

When contacted, Assistant District Fire Officer K.P. Keshava Reddy admitted that there is shortage of staff and problems in meeting the fuel and maintenance needs.

"We have taken 21 home guards from the Police Department and paying them Rs. 100 per head per day for assisting in our duties," he said.

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