Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Saturday announced an ‘in-principle grant’ of Rs 63 crore for buying fire safety equipment. The amount will be allocated under the Swarnim Jayanti Chief Minister Urban Development Scheme to ensure that the local urban authorities are equipped with the latest fire safety equipment at their disposal to tackle any emergency. The Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC) will procure and allocate nearly 71 firefighting vehicles and equipment to the 54 municipalities.
The decision came a day after the Gujarat High Court pulled up the state government for issuing advertisements to fill vacancies in fire departments in civic bodies only after “court hearings.”
The HC had made the observation while hearing the Rajkot TRP game zone fire case.
As per an affidavit filed by the state government and various municipal corporations before the Gujarat High Court on Friday, nearly 1,104 (over 33 per cent) of the sanctioned 3,307 posts in fire departments of the eight municipal corporations are vacant.
In Junagadh Municipal Corporation, 76 per cent of posts are vacant, followed by Bhavnagar (68 per cent). Jamnagar, which has the largest refinery, has over half the posts vacant in the fire department of the municipal corporation.
The least number of vacancies is in Rajkot where 31 (12 per cent) of 342 posts are empty. Surat Municipal Corporation has the highest number of fire department posts at 1,473, of which 402 are vacant.
The grant will be released under the Swarnim Jayanti Mukhya Mantri Shaheri Vikas Yojana, a government statement said.
“The decision was taken following representations by citizen groups and local leaders…” it added.
Under this scheme, 18 mini fire tenders, 21 water bowsers, 29 water-cum-foam tenders, and two electric rescue boats will be purchased for municipalities with the grant to be released by the Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC). These vehicles would be GPS-enabled and linked to the CM-Dashboard.
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