AMC fires nine fire officers, seven senior posts now vacant

It added that the action was taken following complaints that several probationary officers had obtained admission to National Fire Service College in Nagpur by producing invalid or false sponsorship letters.

“…a vigilance inquiry as well as departmental inquiry (by) industrial relations department found these to be true and they were asked to show cause why they should not be terminated from service. Since their replies to the final showcause notice were unsatisfactory, the municipal commissioner has terminated their services on August 22,” the AMC said.

The order has left a gaping hole in the top cadre of AFES. While the posts of chief fire officer (CFO), additional CFO and two deputy CFOs were already vacant, the removal of the nine officers has now resulted in seven of the top 10 senior posts lying vacant. The top brass of AFES now has only two deputy CFOs and one divisional officer.

However, the repercussions go beyond AFES.

Kaizad Dastoor, while substantially a divisional officer in Ahmedabad, also held additional charge as CFO of Gandhinagar Fire and Emergency Services (GFES). With his removal, Gandhinagar is now left without any senior officer. Gandhinagar Municipal Commissioner J N Vaghela remained unavailable for a comment.

With the Rajkot Fire and Emergency Services (RFES) already having lost several top officers to the TRP Game Zone fire, disproportionate assets and corruption cases in the last three months, the civic body was hoping to get a new interim CFO from the Gujarat State Fire Prevention Services (GSFPS) after their last appointee, Anil Maru, was booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on August 12.

This officer was expected to be Mithun Mistry, a deputy CFO who was also acting as additional CFO of Ahmedabad.

Senior officials said that the state government had all but confirmed that Mistry would be deputed to Rajkot. But Mistry himself told The Indian Express he has no inkling of any such order. Nalin Chaudhary, GSFPS director, could not be contacted for a comment.

Now, with the dismissal of nine officers in Ahmedabad, it is unlikely that one of only three officers left in the city can be spared for Rajkot.
When contacted, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner M Thennarasan said, “Contrary to such reports, we have not yet received any letter from the state seeking the services of Mithun Mistry to be deputed to Rajkot.”

On the situation in Ahmedabad, Thennarasan said, “We will shortly issue a recruitment advertisement for the posts of divisional fire officers as well.”

Only on Thursday, the AMC had issued a new recruitment advertisement for the posts of CFO, additional CFO and two Deputy CFOs after its previous attempt failed to get eligible candidates.

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