Final salute to a valiant officer and his visionary leadership
Director General of Telangana Vigilance and Enforcement department Rajiv Ratan, whose sudden demise shocked police fraternity and his wellwishers, was in the limelight of late due to the probe into irregularities in the KKLIP, but he did make a mark for himself in terms of other works given to him.
While he held many significant posts, his stint as the Director General of TS Disaster Response and Fire Services department, for over three years from 2015, was particularly notable because of the sweeping changes he had brought about in its functioning, bringing the agency closer to the public with digital access and ensuring the Fire Safety Act was implemented in its true spirit.
Ratan did not think of it as a “nonfocal” posting as he began addressing the changes as soon as he took charge by laying down the standard operating procedures for firefighting so that the response time for any fire mishap was reduced, through coordination with local police, traffic police and others to ensure a ‘green channel’.
“Earlier, we had to request a tanker from the water board for filling up our vehicles but as a DG, he held meetings with the top officials. Thereafter, a water tanker used to arrive at the mishap site for replenishing our vehicle. He was very particular about firefighting equipment for personnel rushing to attend emergency calls,” recalled GHMC Regional Fire Officer V. Papaiah. As the DG, he also introduced firefighting bullet bikes with foam mist so that they could become the first responders, making their way through regular traffic, to quell a minor fire before the bigger vehicle arrived.
Regional Fire Officer (Central Zone) B. Harinatha Reddy said that Telangana became the first State to have introduced online services for fire safety renewals, NOCs and permissions for various services besides making the renewals once in five years.
“Taking permissions manually for any service used to be a laborious process. It was cut short like ‘live’ linking fire attendance certificate for insurance claims. What used to take three months was now online,” he added.
It was also during Ratan’s time that an erring builder was jailed while a prominent hotel was sealed for fire safety violations, even while he ensured that fire personnel were made eligible for gallantry awards.