Shortage of firefighting vehicles in Shivamogga

A delegation of BJP leaders led by BJP district president M.K. Jagadish and party’s farmers’ unit president Siddalingappa M. Nimbegondi met Deputy Commissioner Gurudatta Hegade on April 17 and complained about the shortage of vehicles to combat fire in an emergency. The DC told the delegation that efforts were on to get fire tenders sanctioned for the district.

Shivamogga

The offices of the Fire and Emergency Services Department in Shivamogga have been facing a shortage of firefighting vehicles. As seven fire tenders have been scrapped under the vehicle-scrapping policy, the officers are managing with the available vehicles at the time of an emergency.

According to the officers, two vehicles each in Shivamogga and Sorab, one each in Sagar, Shikaripur and Hosanagar, have been scrapped as they are older than 15 years.

Recently, when a fire mishap occurred at Sorab, the officials sent Agni, an emergency response vehicle. Residents of the town alleged that the fire, which occurred in an agricultural land, could not be controlled by the mini-vehicle. Farmers suffered huge losses, they claim.

A delegation of BJP leaders led by BJP district president M.K. Jagadish and party’s farmers’ unit president Siddalingappa M. Nimbegondi met Deputy Commissioner Gurudatta Hegade on April 17 and complained about the shortage of vehicles to combat fire in an emergency. The DC told the delegation that efforts were on to get fire tenders sanctioned for the district.

District Fire Officer B.R. Ashok Kumar told The Hindu that a proposal had been sent to the head office seeking vehicles for the district. “Our priority is to get vehicles for Sorab. Firefighting vehicles cannot be procured in a short span of time. Fabrication of vehicles to our needs takes a long time. Across Karnataka, we need many vehicles. Fabrication is going on. We are hopeful of getting a vehicle for Sorab soon,” he said.

Besides that, the officer had sought permission from the Central Government to exempt firefighting vehicles from the scrapping policy, as they were needed in the time of an emergency. However, the Centre did not give approval for the proposal.