Punjab local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday proposed to set up a separate Directorate of Fire Services in the State.
“The Government wants to set up a separate Directorate of Fire Services in Punjab. The final decision in this regard will be taken after the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s approval. The need of the hour is to streamline, and modernize the existing fire extinguishing system,” said Sidhu after visiting the Christian Medical hospital in ludhiana to enquire about the health of the injured firemen while also assuring them of every possible help by the state government.
The Minister said that the Government would set up the Directorate to make the state self-reliant in the sphere of disaster management, especially focusing on the fire extinguishing management. Sidhu also announced that the Government would observe fire extinguishing service week on annual basis from April 17 to 21.
“Punjab Government had sent Rs 40 crore proposal to the Centre to strengthen the fire extinguishing mechanism in the state which has been granted approval with the Central Government assuring financial assistance of Rs 50 crore more from its coffers. Out of this total Rs 90 crore, new equipment would be purchased,” he said.
“Going by the population, Punjab needs 500 modern fire tenders, whereas at present, the state has just one,” he said adding that 40 fire service vehicles in the state have been updated.
“During the previous times, this significant sector faced such a sordid state of affairs that only a clerk was managing the affairs in the headquarters,” said Sidhu while launching a scathing attack on the previous SAD-BJP Government for “blatantly ignoring disaster management systems”.
Sidhu, talking to the reporters, said that in a vital sector as fire extinguishing mechanism, only Rs 60 lakh were spent out of Rs 4.60 crores received from 2009-2013; where as in respect of disaster management, out of received Rs 629 crore, a sum of Rs 91 crore was earmarked for fire extinguishing management but only Rs 17 crores were spent for the purpose whose user certificate was not sent to the Union Government resulting in stopping of central grants for the purpose.
“Due to this non-utilization and improper use of funds, Punjab has been placed in ‘Red Zone’ by the Centre,” he said.
“leave alone proper utilization of the State’s revenue, the previous dispensation did not adequately used grants received from the Centre which earned a bad name for the state during past 10 years,” he said.
The Minister said that the mishaps recently occurring in ludhiana made him review the works done till now and he found out that the government funds received for the purpose have been grossly misused.