New Delhi: At least 33 lives, including those of six newborns, were snuffed out in two separate fire incidents last week — in a Delhi hospital and a gaming zone in Gujarat’s Rajkot — due to lack of fire safety clearances and the callousness of civic agencies.
The two incidents have a few things in common. The two-storeyed Baby Care New Born Child Hospital in Delhi’s densely populated Vivek Vihar and Rajkot’s TRP Gaming Zone both did not have fire clearances, a separate fire exit and fire safety measures in place.
While investigations are underway in both, they show that no lessons have been learnt from other such similar accidents in the past. Almost every such incident has historically involved similar violations and negligence.
Some major disasters in the past include the Uphaar Cinema tragedy in Delhi in 1997 where 59 people died, Kolkata’s AMRI hospital fire in 2011 with a death toll of about 90, Surat coaching centre fire in 2019 which killed 22 students, among others.
While there are multiple safety violations in these cases, the accidents also raise concerns about the fire safety standards in India, the level of preparedness due to the acute shortage of firefighters and inadequate fire safety infrastructure in cities.
This was pointed out in the Report of 15th Finance Commission for 2021-26, released in October 2020, in which a provision for Rs 5,000 crore was made to strengthen fire services at the state level for the next five years.
“Fire services in the country lack resources and are ill-equipped to provide adequate fire safety cover to the population. The NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) has estimated the extent of deficiency of fire services in the country: fire stations — 97.54 percent; firefighting and rescue vehicles — 80.04 per cent; and fire personnel — 96.28 per cent,” read the report.
Citing National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the commission said that 1,85,383 people had lost their lives due to fire accidents between 2010 and 2019 — an average of 65 deaths a day.
Fire officials in Delhi and Maharashtra, among other parts of the country, admit that there has been an increase in fire incidents. According to Delhi Fire Services, 55 people have died in various fire accidents in the city so far since January, compared to 36 deaths last year during the corresponding period.
DFS officials say that the number of fire calls has also increased by 32.26 percent this year versus 2023, with 8,912 calls received between 1 January and 26 May. Of the 8,912 calls, 2,991 calls were made in the month of May itself.
Former DFS chief A.K. Sharma says that there is an urgent need to have well-equipped fire departments due to the fast pace of urbanisation. “Over the years, the population of cities has increased resulting in unauthorised settlements. This has also led to a sharp increase in the number of fire incidents in the past few years. But our fire service infrastructure, especially manpower, has not kept pace with the increase in population,” he explains.
Delhi, according to Sharma, is a case in point. He says that there were around 40-45 fire stations in Delhi in the 1990s, when the fire department was under the municipal corporation.
“In the mid-90s, when the department came under the Delhi government, there was a plan to increase the number of fire stations to 70. Almost three decades later, we just have 66 stations in the national capital, while the population of the city has increased manifold. With the increase in traffic congestion in cities, it becomes even more important to have more fire stations to ensure quick response,” Sharma says.
But the shortage of fire stations and staff is a common problem across the country. In 2012, the Directorate General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards under the Union home ministry undertook a fire and risk hazard analysis, which painted a grim picture of the fire services, especially acute shortage of manpower, in the country.
Also Read: ‘Everyone could’ve been saved’— grieving relatives question fire dept response in Rajkot tragedy
Acute shortage of manpower, fire safety infra
The analysis showed that India had just 3,377 (40 percent) fire stations as against the actual requirement of 8,559 stations. States, such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, were found to have a shortage ranging from 400 to over 900 fire stations in the gap assessment, which was carried out by a private firm.
The Union home ministry, in response to a question in Rajya Sabha in June 2019, had reiterated the dismal shortage of fire safety infrastructure and manpower in the country. Minister of State Nityanand Rai had informed the Upper House that while the required manpower was 5,57,123, it was found that the fire departments across the country were working with just around 10 percent staff (54,239 personnel).
Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, among others, had a manpower shortfall of over 30,000 personnel as against the assessed requirement, according to data shared by the ministry in Rajya Sabha.
Fire department officials attribute this deficit to the delay in the recruitment process by state or municipal authorities. In most states like Maharashtra and Haryana, the fire service has been included as a municipal function in the city. Officials say that with most municipal corporations facing financial issues, recruitment of fire officials takes a back seat.
SS Warick, director, Maharashtra Fire Services, said that appointment of manpower in fire departments is the responsibility of respective municipal corporations, councils and special planning authorities as per Maharashtra Fire Act 2006.
“Due to fund crunch, several municipal corporations are not able to hire adequate staff in the fire department. In cities such as Nagpur, Amravat, Chatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Pimpri Chinchawad, Vasai Virar, Nasik etc there is shortage of staff. While our state government provides funds for setting up fire stations and procurement of fire tenders for municipal councils, but the fire services can be provided ones they have adequate operational staff.”
He said that currently there are 6,800 plus fire official and staff employed with all municipal corporations/councils and special planning authorities like MIDC, CIDCO, PMRDA and MIHAN. “There is around a 60 percent shortfall in manpower across the state. The state government recently gave permission for filling up vacant posts. The municipal corporations/councils and SPAs will start the recruitment drive after the election.”
Apart from recruitment, the upgradation of existing infrastructure and procurement of new equipment is also the need of the hour, fire officials say.
Need for an overhaul
With an increase in population in cities, fire officials admit, there is an urgent need to upgrade the fire infrastructure.
Following the provision by the 15th Finance Commission, the Union home ministry launched the Scheme for Expansion and Modernisation of Fire Services in July last year with an objective to strengthen fire services in the states. The ministry had written to all state governments to send their proposals in this regard.
“The measures included in the scheme provides setting up of new fire stations, strengthening of state training centres and capacity building, provisions for modern fire-fighting equipment, strengthening of state headquarters and urban fire stations, technological upgradation and installation and augmentation of online system etc,” junior Home Minister Rai said in Rajya Sabha in December 2023.
According to the 2012 gap analysis, Karnataka was among the few states, where the shortage of fire stations was not very high — 377 stations were required and the state had 195. Senior officials say that the state government has taken measures to recruit more staff and also invested in fire infrastructure.
Shivashankara T.N., director, Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services Department, says, “Two years back, we recruited over 1,500 fire officials. Now, we have less than 15 percent of sanctioned posts lying vacant. In the past few years, we have set up new fire stations in such a way that every 30 kilometres, there is a fire station in the state. Currently, we have 216 fire stations and have sent a proposal to Union home ministry to add 21 more stations, including five more in Bengaluru.”
Under the home ministry’s scheme, Delhi plans to set up 15 more fire stations in various parts of the city. Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg tells ThePrint, “Delhi Lieutenant Governor has approved the plan to construct more fire stations so that Delhi has around 80 fire stations.”
According to the 2012 gap assessment, the actual requirement of fire stations in Delhi is around 108.
But Garg says that availability of land is the biggest problem in setting up stations. “We need a large land parcel for setting up our fire stations. It is not possible to get such land parcels in Delhi now, especially in densely populated areas, such as east and northeast Delhi.”
With an increase in traffic congestion, he says, it is important to have stations so that vehicles can reach the accident spot in time. “The department is also planning to open new stations around industrial areas, new residential developments, such as Chhatarpur, to ensure that fire emergencies are addressed at the earliest,” he said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
All money for socialism, no money for firefighting.