E-Paper
Delhi fire department’s new tenders lying unused due to NGT order
The department now plans to move the Supreme Court against the NGT order. The department has around 200 vehicles of which around 100 are more than 10 years old.
Already short of resources, the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) is not being able to register at least 60 new fire tenders purchased in March 2018. The reason: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the fire department to submit an affidavit ensuring that no fire tender older than 10 years is being used.
The department now plans to move the Supreme Court against the NGT order. The department has around 200 vehicles of which around 100 are more than 10 years old.
If the vehicles remain unregistered, the fire department fears they will face a drastic crunch while facing fire incidents next summer.
GC Mishra, chief of fire services, said the NGT, while hearing the Vardhaman Kaushik case in July this year, had ordered that no diesel vehicles older than 10 years can ply on Delhi’s roads.
“We had prayed to the NGT to allow us to replace our 60 decade-old vehicles with these 60 newly bought ones. The NGT, however, declined our prayer. The NGT asked us to submit an affidavit ensuring we are not using any vehicle older than 10 years. Only then we can register any new vehicle, we were told,” Mishra said.
Officials said the 60 new vehicles worth nearly ₹7.6 crore were purchased in March. Since then these are parked at the Fire Safety Management Academy in Rohini. These include 20 large and 20 small-sized fire tenders along with four foam machines and 16 water-carrying tanks.
“We would discuss the legalities with a government counsel before we move the Supreme Court later this month,” he added.
Across the world, fire departments use diesel vehicles.
A senior officer from the fire department, who did not wish to be named, said the DFS cannot submit such an affidavit as most of its vehicles are older than 10 years.
“Our vehicles are used only during emergency to save lives. In the past 10 years, our fire tenders have barely run over 10,000 kilometers. They are not polluting vehicles. Three Hazmet vans we imported in 2002, worth 12 crore, have only run 8,000 km-9,000 km. But according to the NGT’s order, they need to be replaced. There cannot be a blanket ban and life-saving agencies should be exempted. If we are not allowed to register new vehicles, we will be short of resources in the next season,” the officer said.
He said they will appeal to the Supreme Court to allow them to replace the engines of the 10-year-old fire tenders instead of replacing the entire vehicle.
“This will save government money. A fire tender costs over ₹35 to 40 lakh. Replacing the engine would cost not more than ₹5-6 lakh,” he added.
Another officer from DFS, who is not authorised to speak to media, said the department is already facing a severe staff crunch.
“Our sanctioned strength is 3,550 and we are short by about 50%. Recently, 251 new recruits have joined us but they are yet to start training. And if we are not allowed to use our existing fire tenders, the situation is expected to worsen,” the officer said.
