Two days after the fire services personnel went on a cease-work agitation pressing for fulfilment of their various demands, six fire officials in the State were suspended on Wednesday on the charges of dereliction of duty and indiscipline.
A communiqué in this regard was released by the Central Range Fire Officer in Cuttack.
Two fire officials of the Chitrada Fire Station in Mayurbhanj, two fire personnel of Daspalla in Nayagarh district and two from Baliapal were suspended on the charges of not responding to emergency calls in drowning and fire mishap incidents.
On September 24, a three-year-old boy fell into a well at Dakoi village under Morda block in Mayurbhanj district. Though locals called up fire brigade officials, no one turned up for his rescue.
In another incident on the same day, eight houses were gutted in a fire mishap at Srirampur village under the Nilgiri police limits in Baleswsar district. Though the villagers sought help of firefighting staffs, the latter did not come.
Notably, Fire Services personnel across the State have launched their strike since September 24 for an indefinite period pressing for fulfilment of a six-point charter of demands, including provision of salary and pension at par with their police counterparts and filling up of vacant posts and abolition of contractual appointments in the Fire Services.