Hyderabad: Shashidhar wants pucca solution to frequent fire accidents

Hyderabad: Marri Shashidhar Reddy, former vice-chairman, National Disaster Management Authority, and senior BJP leader, wrote a letter to Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari questioning efforts taken by the government to prevent fire accidents in the State capital. In his letter, Shashidhar Reddy stated that the massive outbreak of fire in a five-storied building on Minister Road, Secunderabad under Sanathnagar Assembly constituency was the third fire accident in the last 10 months in this constituency, represented by Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav. He stated that the fire started in the morning. "I spent several hours at the site and my initial observation was that there was inordinate delay in controlling the fire. I learnt from officials that they were finding it difficult to get water tankers to fill the emptied fire engines."

Stating that this was the third fire accident in less than a year, he said 11 migrant workers from Bihar had lost their life when a fire broke out on March 23, 2022, in a godown situated in a residential area in Bhoiguda. There were many statements by ministers and officials but was soon forgotten with photo-ops. The photo-op was carried all the way to Patna by no less than the State Chief Minister when he went there to distribute cheques to the families of the deceased as compensation.

Then eight more people lost their lives due to suffocation after fire broke out at Ruby Motors and Ruby Pride Hotel under the Market Police Station limits. There were statements made by all concerned even at that time. No one is aware of any report of detailed investigations after these two incidents, identification of shortcomings and recommendations of actions to be taken to prevent such incidents from recurring and also to deal with such situations in a more efficient manner. "Coming to the latest fire mishap, there are some important issues that need to be looked at the legality of construction, permissible usage and actual usage, provision of inbuilt fire system and response by the Fire department. The is an immediate need to appoint a committee of experts to make a comprehensive study, document response actions, identify defects and shortcomings and make recommendations for prevention and better preparedness.