ISLAMABAD: In defiance of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration, around 100 workers of the civil defence department and internationally-trained workers of the fire brigade department are shamelessly neglecting their duties at a time when the country is in dire need of their services, Pakistan Today has learnt.
A source in the ICT told Pakistan Today that 22 workers of the civil defence department have been neglecting their duties for the past few years with most of them being absent mostly for focusing on their private jobs and business while the remaining four are working as touts in the Excise and Taxation department in Islamabad.
The source further added that while the country facing earthquakes, all workers of civil defence are neglecting their duties due to a strong ‘monopoly’ within the department in which high-ups are also included.
According to the documents available with Pakistan Today, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2009 got the operational command of the highly-trained and well-equipped Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team in collaboration with international partners. But later after dissolving of the CDA & MCI, the team was handed over to the Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate (EDMD) of the MCI.
According to the documents, Swiss, British and Swedish governments did not only provide well-equipped 18-month trainings to the 88-member team but also provided modern equipment worth more than $2 million in 2009.
Salient features of the team are high-tech search and rescue, canine component (search dogs), operational self-sustainability and local and international deployment capability.
A member of the USAR team told Pakistan Today that despite having 10 years of experience being internationally trained, the USAR teams are given cleanliness and sanitation tasks in the streets of capital and other places, which are strictly in violation of their domain.
An official of the directorate told Pakistan Today that during the last few years the team members decreased from 88 to 35 due to unknown reasons by the EDMD while emergency situations increased in country. He further added that after the completion of the training, it was argued that the team will provide basic trainings in the surrounding areas of the capital and other cities of the country but the goals were not achieved and the team lost its value despite from investing millions of rupees.
It’s pertained to mention here that the USAR team in two national exercises on replicated collapsed structure got the operational command back in 2009 while the operational capabilities of USAR team were promised to extend to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
When contacted, Islamabad District Commissioner (DC) Hamza Shafqat denied the claims of the sources and said that there are only 20 civil defence Razakars who are on duties in district courts and Katchehri. He further added that in case of any emergency, the capital has full-fledged NDMA, EDMD as well fire brigade department which is fully capable of responding to any calamity.
When contacted, Zaffar Iqbal, who is currently supervising the fire department, negated these claims and said that in case of small emergencies, small teams are used. He further added that the teams are well-equipped and routinely coordinate with NDMA to respond to any emergency.
