Procuring small fire fighting vehicles

Last year in May a nine-year-old girl was charred to death after a houseboat in the Dal Lake area of Srinagar caught fire. The houseboat near Ghat number 16 was completely gutted in the fire. During the intervening night of December 26th and 27th 2022, a massive fire incident took place in Check e Surasyar village in Chadoora sub division of Budgam. As the village doesn’t have a proper road connectivity, the house of Mushtaq Ahmad Hajam and his brothers turned into ashes within hours. The local residents had to use muck and soil to douse the fire as they could not even get a high pressure water spraying motor (used in apple farms) on time that could have been of great help. On December 28th there was another  fire incident in the nearby Kutbal village. The village is well connected with roads but until the  fire fighting vehicle reached the village the house where the fire broke out had been damaged completely. Still the fire fighters did a commendable job by ensuring that fire didn’t spread to other houses which were located very closely.

In November 2022 two siblings were burnt alive after a fire broke out in a residential house in Diver Lolab area of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district. A major fire broke out in a residential house of Mohammad Akbar Khan  at Kakadpatti Diver on November 19th 2022 around 11:30 PM. The flames spread to the whole wooden structure and it was turned into ashes in a few hours. In Spite of the fact that the Fire and Emergency Services Department local army unit and civilians made great efforts to douse off the fire, they were unsuccessful. Biggest tragedy during this incident was that two minor siblings of Akbar Khan namely Amir Khan, 6, and Sabzar Khan, 3, couldn’t be rescued on time and were burnt alive.

The deadly fire incidents across Kashmir valley, and Srinagar city in particular, continue to consume precious lives; and property worth hundreds of crores has been destroyed during the year 2022.

Around 10 people were killed between January to March 2022  while 660 fire incidents were reported in Kashmir valley during the same time as per the official data prepared by the Fire & Emergency Services (F&ES) department. The data further revealed that property worth Rs 3572.26 lakh and belongings worth over Rs 31306.38 lakh were damaged in these incidents. The highest number of fire incidents have been reported in Srinagar district where the Fire & Emergency Services Department between January to March only received 143 fire calls and the property worth Rs 1704.58 lakhs was damaged.

The second-highest fire calls between Jan to March 2022 was reported from Baramulla district where 108 fire incidents have taken place in which property worth Rs 224.87 lakh and belongings worth Rs 1778.50 lakh was damaged.The incidents in the other eight districts of Budgam, Anantnag, Kupwara, Pulwama, Shopian, Ganderbal, Kulgam and Bandipora were 45, 68, 81, 53, 24, 49, 39, and 50, respectively between the same time.

Property worth Rs 560 crore destroyed

The fire incidents have caused a huge financial loss of around Rs 560 crore in the last 6 years. In Srinagar district only, the official data suggests a clear spike in the fire incidents between January to March 2022. Twenty one residential houses, nine shops and one shopping complex, one vehicle, six electricity transformers got damaged in the month of January 2022 only. The property worth Rs 2,85, 53,000 got damaged. In February 2022, the fire calls increased to 49 in Srinagar wherein 14 residential houses, two shops and three shopping complex got damaged. The property worth 1,78,40,00 got damaged in the month of February.

In the month of March 2022 the department received over 52 fire calls in which 58 residential houses, two shops and six shopping complexes were damaged. The property worth Rs 12,40,65,500 got damaged. From March to December 2022 the incidents of fire have been on constant rise and on a daily basis we hear and see fire incidents damaging our lives and properties across J&K.

For the last many decades there has been no augmentation of the Fire Service stations. In Srinagar city with a huge population growth in the last 20 years we have only 31 fire stations. In Ganderbal district there are only 6 fire stations located in Ganderbal town, Kangan, Lar, Safapora, Gund, Batwina. In District Budgam there had been no augmentation of fire stations for the last 25 years or more. There are only 7 fire stations located in Budgam town, Charar Sharief , Pakherpora, Magam, Beerwah , Chadoora and Khansahib. There is an urgent need for Fire Stations at Surasyar, Loolipora, Khag, Arizal. These areas are located in the upper reaches of Budgam and have a huge catchment area as well. In Kishtwar there are only two fire stations in Padder Atholi and Kishtwar town. In Udhampur there are only 3 stations at Ramnagar, Chinani and Udhampur town.

Streamline Selection process

The Govt has failed to even streamline the selection process of firemen and drivers in the Fire and Emergency Services Department and people are made to suffer as there is dearth of firemen and drivers in the department. The Department is marred by controversies as recruitment of 800 has come under scanner following allegations of massive corruption in the selection process. The Government has now formed a panel headed by R K Goel  Additional Chief Secretary Home J&K Govt who has been asked to probe this scam. Over 14,000 candidates appeared for the exams for 800 posts of firemen and drivers in the Fire Service Department in October 2020 and till date the selection process isn’t completed. Had the Govt appointed these 800 firemen and drivers 2 years back, the working of the department would have been streamlined and there would not have been such a huge loss due to fire incidents in J&K.

Conclusion

I am aware of the fact that the Govt needs huge finances to create new posts and to set up new fire stations. A lot of money is required , but why can’t the Govt utilize PRI grants meant for every village panchayat wherein Rs 23.30 lakhs is available. If two to three panchayats pool only Rs 5 lakhs, they can buy a small fire fighting van by modifying a TATA 207 vehicle having a high pressure motor fitted to it. Similarly in cities and towns the funds allocated to municipal councillors, corporators can also be used to buy small fire vans. The development doesn’t mean only to undertake civil works so that cuts and commissions are taken out of these works. The utilization of PRI grants or funds allotted to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) / Municipal Institutions can be used innovatively by purchasing small fire fighting vehicles.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow. He is also the Anant Fellow for Climate Action