Firemen will not be deployed as lifeguards every day: BMC

A day after the city’s fireman threatened to go on strike, the civic administration said they would not be deployed as lifeguards on beaches every day.

A day after the city’s fireman threatened to go on strike, the civic administration said they would not be deployed as lifeguards on beaches every day.

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The firemen were protesting against several issues including inadequate safety gear and being assigned multiple duties such as lifeguards.

Two unions representing firemen, the Mumbai Fire Services Union and the Mumbai Agnishaman Dal Ladhau Kamgar Sanghtana, had threatened to go a strike from July 13, if their demands were not met within the next seven days.

The civic administration called now for a meeting on Friday to discuss the issues raised by the unions.

There are about 1,500 firemen in the department.

On Wednesday, the firemen protested by reporting to work in plainclothes and skipping ancillary duties assigned to them of lifeguards and pest control. They have objected to working as lifeguards as they are not trained to swim and rescue people and they do not have the life saving equipment.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said, “Trained firemen have deployed on beaches only for certain days and if they need training we will train them more.”

She added that the process of recruiting 23 lifeguards is on and firemen will be deployed on the beaches only for weekends, public holidays and on high tide days.

She also clarified that firemen were not assigned to carry out fumigation on vacant mill premises, but only the fire brigade’s equipment, such as the snorkel (vehicle mounted ladder), were being used.