Mumbai : The Mumbai Congress here on Tuesday criticised the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation for ignoring fire safety concerns, endangering the lives of both citizens and firemen.
City Congress president Sanjay Nirupam said in a statement that in the past decade, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party run civic body has failed to implement measures to upgrade the Mumbai Fire Brigade.
He said that since 2004-2005, a mere 2.5 percent of the budget allocation has been spent on upgrading the fire brigade till 2013-2014 which saw eight major blazes in the city.
Besides, lack of fire safety equipments cause casualties among firemen during fire-fighting and rescue operations, Nirupam said, referring to the deaths of two firemen in last Saturday’s major conflagration in a south Mumbai building.
Citing official data, Nirupam said, as per the government’s Fire Hazard Response, Mumbai Mitigation Plan of 2011, there was a shortfall of 11 fire stations in the city.
“Till date, the project to address this has not begun, though the budget has already been allocated. While Mumbai has a fire station for every 380,000 population, in Tokyo, there is a fire station for every 64,000 population. On a per capita basis, Bangkok has 73 percent more fire stations compared to Mumbai,” Nirupam pointed out.
He said relocation of people living in buildings which are fire hazards had also been delayed.
Of the Rs. 40 crore allocated as estate development fund to construct alternative accommodation for such people in endangered buildings, only Rs. one crore was utilised in 2013-2014.
“Our firemen are doing their best to save lives in a dangerous line of work. We must make their job safer… If we don’t take preventive steps now, it’s only a matter of time before this happens again,” Nirupam cautioned.
Last Saturday, two Mumbai firemen lost their lives and as many injured, one of them critically, in a fire that broke out in Gokul Niwas in the congested Kalbadevi area of south Mumbai.