DELHI FIRE SERVICE : HC asks AAP govt about steps taken to fill vacancies

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government whether it had sent a requisition for filling up the over-45 per cent vacancy in the fire department, which, according to a PIL, is facing a "manpower crunch" and is allegedly "ill-equipped".

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao issued notice to the Delhi government and sought to know its stand on a plea moved by the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), which has contended that despite the lapse of 21 years since the tragic incident that claimed 59 lives, fire safety arrangements in the national capital have not improved. 

On June 13, 1997, during the screening of Bollywood film "Border" at the Uphaar theatre in south Delhi, 59 people, including women and children, had died of suffocation as they were trapped inside the auditorium when it got filled with smoke after a nearby transformer caught fire that spread to the cars parked close to the building. 

The AVUT, represented by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, in its plea said 21 years after the incident, the fire safety arrangements had "deteriorated" in the city with the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) facing a manpower crunch of over 45 per cent of its prescribed strength. 

The association, in its petition filed through advocate Karan Khanuja, said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had, in its March 2015 report pertaining to the performance audit of the DFS, had found several loopholes in its functioning. 

"The five-year audit of the premier fire service of the country has shown that in case of a fire emergency, the fire service is not only ill-equipped, but also well short of staff," it said. 

The DFS needed to strengthen its Fire Prevention Wing (inspection, awareness and training) so that in future, events similar to the one at the Uphaar cinema hall could be prevented, the AVUT said. The plea has suggested the introduction of the "Safe Goa 24/7 - Emergency Monitoring System" in the national capital. 

Under the said initiative, an electronic hardware is installed in a building which links the Fire Force Headquarter Control Room and the local fire station watch-room of the Goa State Fire Emergency Services, the petition said. 

"Using remote-communication technologies such as GPRS, the system monitors the building in real time, 24x7 and continually exchanges data and information regarding the operational status of the fire protection measures installed in the premises," the petition said.