Nine fire service personnel have been suspended and one has been reverted to the Pauri police line by the district superintendent of police Ajay Joshi following a violent clash between two groups of firemen in Kotdwar late on Saturday night. The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Garhwal range, Amit Sinha had asked the Pauri Superintendent of Police to send the detailed report of this incident to him. However, the SP found fire service personnel prima facie guilty, suspending nine of them and reverting one to the police lines while appointing the Chief Fire Officer, Pauri as inquiry officer. The appointment of the inquiry officer by the SP has now been cancelled and the DIG will appoint an investigating officer in the case.
The Kotdwar fire station has 29 sanctioned posts of personnel but at present only 18 personnel are working in Kotdwar while five have been deputed to other places in the Pauri district. There was much resentment among the personnel regarding the allocation of duties which resulted in violent confrontation between two groups of firemen when most of them got drunk on Saturday night. This violent clash which resulted in injury to nine firemen has exposed the lack of discipline in the police force and working system of the officer concerned. According to sources, the cause of the clash was the complaint of some personnel that some of the firemen were being made to work more than others.
The Pauri Superintendent of Police Ajay Joshi told
The Pioneer that the DIG, Garhwal Range has asked him to send a detailed report on the incident which took place on the weekend. According to official sources, firemen Prem Singh, Deepak Rathore, Balbir Singh, Amit Verma, Pradeep, Rajesh, Sanjeev Kainthura , Ravi Thapa and Sandeep Sharma have been suspended while Bipin Kumar was reverted to the Police line in Pauri.