Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesdayinformed that 45 more fire stations would be set in the State this year.
“There are 290 fire stations in the State. The Government will set up 45 more fire stations making it a total of 335. With this, Odisha will have the highest number of fire stations among all the States in the country,” said Patnaik while addressing the Fire Service Week celebration at the Odisha Fire and Disaster Response Academy premises in Baramunda here.
Maintaining that there must be adequate protection and safety measures in the large number of high-rise apartments coming up in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and other cities he stressed on effective coordination between development authorities and the Fire Service department to meet any eventuality.
He also hailed the Fire Services personnel for their fast response to the road mishap case in Deogarh where a bus plunged 300 feet down a ghat.
On the occasion, Patnaik dedicated three fire training institutes, the Odisha Fire and Disaster Response Academy in Bhubaneswar, the Fire Training Institute at Naraj in Cuttack and Watermanship Institute at Ramchandi in Puri, and said the Government would provide necessary staff for proper functioning of these institutes to provide high quality training.