The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Secretariat fire station idling

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Secretariat fire station idling

Staff Reporter

Though completed, the fire station is yet to be inaugurated
Two new fire vehicles which were sanctioned are yet to be supplied

HYDERABAD: Despite a series of fire accidents in the last few months at the Secretariat, the seat of State administration, apathy marks the attitude of government in upgrading the fire station on its premises.

A swank fire station to take care of any emergencies at Secretariat was sanctioned after a major fire broke out in the second and third floors of ‘D' block in May 2009. Works pertaining to the new fire station have already been completed and an office room along with storerooms and garages were constructed on a 1,000 square yard plot adjacent to the ‘K' block at a cost of Rs.50 lakh.

Though the construction work has been completed three months ago, the new fire station is yet to be inaugurated. However, the wait for the new fire tenders is not yet over.

The Government had sanctioned two new fire vehicles but they have not yet been supplied to the authorities manning the station.

Old fire tender

As a result, the fire service officials are forced to use the old tender which had already developed a problem in its gear box. The personnel manning the station had moved into the new building recently as the old one near the ‘L' block is in a bad condition. Whenever it rains, water stagnates near the fire station, the personnel are forced to wade through knee-deep water.

“We moved into the new building though it is not inaugurated officially,” authorities said.

The shortage of staff is also keeping officials on the edge. The station has a meagre availability of six personnel, including two drivers, and this small team has to man the facility round-the-clock. It is learnt that sanctioned staff for this fire station is 18 firemen, with four drivers and an assistant district fire officer.

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