No fuel for fire tenders in GB Nagar
NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar fire department is finding itself in a sticky situation over unpaid bills of over ₹40 lakh as petrol pumps across the district now refuse to provide it fuel on credit.
The matter has become critical with the onset of summers when fire incidents become more frequent. Officials of the department are apprehensive that they may not be able to reach in time to tackle a fire if they are refused fuel.
According to officials of the fire department, the bills have been pending for the last one year and several letters have been written to the home department, requesting funds to clear the pending bills. After waiting for a year, the department received ₹22, 000 in March to meet its requirements.
“We have got ₹22, 000 to meet our needs this year-end. The pending bill only is over ₹40 lakhs, so forget about meeting other requirements,” said Arun Kumar, chief fire officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.
On January 13, there was a fire in Sector 9 of Noida but the fire department was denied fuel by petrol pumps. District magistrate BN Singh had to intervene and request petrol pump owners to provide fuel to the vehicles so that they could tackle the fire.
“In summers, there is always a rise in fire incidents and a delay in controlling it can lead to a massive loss, as fires spread fast in this season. If such an incident takes place and we are denied fuel, the situation can turn worse. Unpaid bills of petrol pumps are yet to be cleared, which compounds the situation. In the past also, the DM had to intervene so that we could get fuel,” Kumar said.
Arvind Kumar, the joint director of the fire department, said the problem of unpaid bills exists in most districts of the state.
“Gautam Budh Nagar is not the only district where our officials are facing trouble in getting fuel due to unpaid bills. Around ₹5 crore is pending and we have written several times to the principal secretary (home) but nothing has been done so far. We have managed to save around ₹5 crore from the electricity budget and requested the principal secretary to appropriate the money so that it can be used to clear our dues,” Kumar said.
The department has also been facing the problem of insufficient manpower, due to which it is unable to keep a tab on flouting of rules and regulations in high-rises. “We don’t have enough staff to keep a check on high-rises, which are not following the fire norms,” Kumar said.
In January, the district magistrate had written to the fire service headquarters in Lucknow, expressing his concern on the issue. The DM stated that the department is not prepared to control incidents of fire such as the Kamala Mills fire tragedy of Mumbai, which took place in December 2017.
“I have written to the fire department to be prepared, in case of an incident on the lines of the Kamala Mills compound fire, and ensure that we are in a position to take charge of it. The department vehicles were denied fuel by petrol pumps and we had to interfere to sort out the issue. Gautam Budh Nagar is an important district and we can’t take any risk with the safety of people,” the DM said.
Despite multiple attempts, principal secretary (home) Arvind Kumar was unavailable for comment.
CRITICAL Gautam Budh Nagar fire department owes over ₹40 lakh to various pumping stations, officials say bills pending for over one year
We have written several times to the principal secretary (home) but nothing has been done so far. ARVIND KUMAR, joint director, fire department