ગુજરાતી
English
but the careless government is not recruiting them and people are dying.
Ahmedabad, August 1, 2024
After 27 people lost their lives in a fire incident in Rajkot gaming zone, the Gujarat government has not taken strict fire safety and regulatory measures. Now the BJP government is forcing to set up private fire brigades in all industrial areas. Sanand has forced to create such a private fire brigade in GIDC.
A statistical report recently presented in the Lok Sabha shows that there is a huge shortage in the Gujarat Fire Service. There are 1,447 firefighters deployed at 183 fire stations in Gujarat, while the approved actual requirement is 34,240.
This means that the state is short of 32,793 firefighters against the sanctioned posts. But according to the population, there should be 508 fire stations in 250 cities. It should have a staff of 60 thousand. But Bhupendra Patel’s government is not ready to provide employment to 59 thousand youth.
On July 30, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and others asked several questions to the Home Ministry. In response, the ministry clarified that the Center does not centrally track data on fire accidents, fire stations or the number of fire personnel. Instead, data on fire incidents and related deaths across the country since 2014 is compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau based on reports submitted by states and union territories.
As of December 31, 2018, data on the total number of fire stations across the country is available on a state-by-state basis. According to this information, Gujarat has 183 fire stations. The Home Ministry said that as of December 31, 2018, Gujarat had 1,447 fire service personnel. This figure is much lower than the 34,240 personnel recommended by the 2012 RMSI report.
According to the ministry data, Gujarat has a shortage of 32,793 fire professionals.
While Gujarat has a high number of firefighters, the state is witnessing an alarming rise in fire incidents. The latest figures from the National Crime Records Bureau report, “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, 2022”, released on December 1, 2023, show an alarming rise in fire-related deaths, with 328 deaths recorded in Gujarat alone in 2022.
According to the NCRB report, there were 3,176 deaths due to fire incidents in Gujarat between 2018 and 2022. During this period, 3,100 fire-related incidents took place in the state. There were 729 fire accidents in 2021 and 2022, in which 737 people died.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi asked several questions to the Home Ministry. In response, the ministry said the Centre does not centrally track data on fire accidents, number of fire stations or fire personnel. Instead, since 2014 it has been compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau.
