The province might not be ready to cope effectively with any fire incidents as 20 districts of Sindh province are without fire tenders, that are otherwise very important to contain loss of lives and properties in case any major fire incident takes place, it is learnt.
Sources told Pakistan Today that more than 35 fire tenders were procured for the Taluka Municipal Administrations (TMAs) a few years back, however all of them had gone out of order owing to the apathy of the provincial authorities and lack of proper monitoring system.
In 2009, the Sindh Local Government Department through a procurement committee had procured at least 54 fire tenders for the TMAs at a cost of Rs324 million for the district TMAs, excluding Karachi.
The purpose of these fully equipped fire tenders was to provide an immediate technical support through providing the fire tender vehicle to strengthen the fire fighting department that were most vulnerable and resource deficient.
Basically, the said project was related with infrastructure sector. In addition the project was also supposed to assist TMA’s in saving the lives and properties of the people residing under the TMA’s jurisdiction.
The fire tenders were essentially required to carry out all fire fighting activities in the most efficient ways. The fire tender is a basic requirement in congested areas of cities, mainly because it could contain 6,000 litres water at any given time and there was no need to fill the vehicle before a fire incident took place, sources added.
The TMAs which were provided with the fire tender vehicles included, Mirpurkas, Digri, Sanghar, Shahdadpur, Tando Adam, Mithi, Badin, Matli, Thatta, Sijawal, Mirpur Sakro, Dadu, Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Johi, Kotri, Sehwan Sharif, Thano Bula Khan (at Nooriabad Fire Station), Sukkur, Rohri, Pano Aqil, Ghotki, Dharki, Mirpur Mathelo, Nawabshah, Sakrand, Noushero Feroz, Moro, Kandiaro, Mehrabpur, Larkana, Ratodero, Dokri, Shikarpur, Garhi Yasin, Jacobabad, Shahdadkot, Kambar, Naseerabad, Tando Allahyar, Chambar, Matiyari, Halla, Kashmore, Kandhkot, Hyderabad City, Latifabad, Umer Kot, Kunri, Tando-Mohd Khan, Bulri Shah Karim, Kharipur, Kharipur Mirs and Gambat.
The sources said that the TMAs had parked the fire tenders in the town offices instead of bringing them on roads to keep them warmed up in case any untoward fire incident took place.
A large number of fire incidents have already taken place in different districts of the province, however no fire tender was seen involved in the rescue operation, they said, adding that the officials at the TMAs did not even attend the call of emergency made by the citizens.
Meanwhile, the condition of more than 35 fire tenders vehicles had become shabby due to the apathy of the authorities concerned and lack of proper maintenance of these vehicles. Presently, these fire tenders have been taken off the roads after their spare parts were stolen.
In many TMAs, the officials have also allegedly taken away the wheels and other equipment of the vehicles, causing loss of millions of rupees to the provincial exchequer, they further added.
The officials at Local Government department told Pakistan Today that they have received a number of complaints regarding unavailability of fire tenders and an enquiry into this matter would likely be launched after Eid.
