Officials of the fire department have been deputed to inspect fire stations, related equipment and appliances across the city amidst a sharp rise in the number of cases of blaze in the city. An order, issued by Delhi Fire Service chief GC Mishra, says that the drives will begin with “immediate effect” and that the observations and directions will have to be entered in the inspection registers of the respective fire stations.
The new mechanism was aimed at ensuring the maintenance of equipment, appliances and fire station buildings for effective delivery of services, the order, dated July 5, says.
While a station officer will be undertaking such inspections weekly, assistant divisional officers will be conducting such inspections monthly, divisional officers quarterly, deputy chief fire officer half-yearly and the chief fire officer - once a year.
In a recent report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has observed that the Delhi Fire Service is grappling with an overall manpower shortage of 42 per cent and requires 12 more fire stations as against its sanctioned strength of 70.
According to an official data, the number of fire incidents rose to 27,098 in the year 2015-16 from 23,242 in 2014-15.
In May this year, fire stations received 115 calls every day as compared to an average of around 75 in 2015-16.