20230622 NMC’s fire brigade dept faces workforce shortage
India Jun 22 2023 “Office bldg.”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
NMC’s fire brigade dept faces workforce shortage
Updated: 2023-06-22
NASHIK: The fire department of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has been facing an acute shortage of workforce, which has been plaguing the department for more than a decade now.
As against the sanctioned posts of 529 fire personnel, only 127 are filled at present. This means only 24 % of the sanctioned force is working while the remaining 76%, is yet to be filled.
While the city has been growing and newer residential and commercial areas are coming up in the city, there has been complete negligence on the part of the authorities concerned to fill up the posts.
The handful of firefighters and drivers on the fire tenders and other fire-fighting-related vehicles are thus working around-the-clock attending calls of fire incidents, rescue operations, clearing roads of fallen trees or tree branches and other works.
Sanjay Bairagi, the chief fire officer of the Nashik fire brigade department said, “The process of filling the vacant posts was taken up last year. However, due to some technical reasons, it was stuck. We are hopeful that the vacant posts will be filled on an urgent basis now.”
The Nashik fire department attended 215 calls this year till June 19. This included 172 calls of a fire breakout, which is at least one call of fire breakout per day, another 31 calls of electrical short circuits and 12 more gas leakages.
The fire brigade department roughly gets more than 500 fire calls and another 250 calls of rescue every year, said fire officers
A fireman, on the condition of anonymity, said the post of deputy chief fire officer, two posts of divisional fire officer, six posts of station fire officers and 18 posts of sub fire officers are all vacant.
He also said many of them who are eligible for promotions are also not promoted.
There are six fire stations in the city comprising Nashik Head Quarter station, Panchavati, Nashik Road, Satpur, Cidco and Panchavati division. In the event of any emergency like a blaze, drowning case, etc 127 fire personnel scuttle from one place to another in the city.
Web Source: The Times of India