Driven by a burning desire
The Hindu
Injuries and fatalities do little to shake the determination of the city’s firemen, for whom the numbers that really count are the lives they have saved
Eight months into her marriage, 28-year-old Shivani had developed a habit of waiting for her husband Amit Baliyan’s call early in the morning when he was on duty as a fire operator at the office of Delhi Fire Services (DFS).
The morning of January 2, 2020, was no different. Amit was in office and Shivani was waiting for his 7 a.m. call to start her day. As her wait stretched from minutes to hours, Shivani knew something was not right. Her cell phone rang finally but the call was from Amit’s office. The 29-year-old fire operator had been crushed under the debris of a four-storey building housing a battery factory at Peeragarhi in Udyog Nagar.
Around 440 MBBS graduates of 2021 are not required to undergo one year of compulsory rural service as per the bond signed by them while joining the medical course through government-quota seats in 2015 as the High Court of Karnataka has said the law, enacted in 2012 for mandatory rural service, remained unenforced for 10 years as it was published in the official gazette only in July 2022.