Firemen union to go on strike over poor facilities
The Bombay Municipal Subordinate Staff Union (BMSSU) of Mumbai fire brigade has called for a strike against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration and Mumbai Fire Brigade for providing poor facilities to the department.
According to the notice sent by the union suggests that the administration has failed to provide proper facilities to the operational staff, the firemen, chief firemen and motor operational staff have not been provided the protective uniforms since last five years which is their basic right under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006.
While speaking to The Free Press Journal Prakash Devdas, the union leader of BMSSU said, “The protective uniforms should be provided immediately which is our basic demand as we firemen will risk their lives without it. Another pertinent demand made is those lost their lives on duty should be given the status of a martyr. The demands include immediate benefits like retirement benefits which are on par to those given to other government staff.”
Devdas further added, “The Mumbai firemen do a great job when on duty but they are always deprived of the basic facilities. The BMC has a huge budget allocation for the fire department but they do not provide good facilities to the firemen even though we have to risk our lives.”
He added, “Today our work has expanded, a fireman is called upon to rescue birds many a times they and we have rescue people drowning and often many of the firemen do not know how to swim. We need proper gear to swim in the sea. This means the BMC administration does not have a systematic approach to safeguard the firemen's lives.”
A legal notice has been sent to Ajoy Mehta, the BMC commissioner on February 15 and also to P Rahangdale, the chief fire officer. The firemen have issued an ultimatum if the administration fails to fulfil those demands a meeting will be held on March 14. After which the 300 operational staff of the fire brigade will go on strike.