BMC pulls up fire brigade for delay

Shiv Sena corporator,Ramesh Korgaonkar cited the example of another fire in Andheri (East) on Friday night in which two people were killed. “The fire broke out during late hours when traffic is not heavy,yet the fire brigade did not arrive on time.”

Corporators said residents of these areas have said the fire brigade arrived only after 30-45 minutes,during which the residents took up the responsibility of rescuing those trapped in the fire.

However,the Additional Municipal Commissioner,M Adtani refutes these charges. “The fire brigade arrived about eight minutes after the first fire call came at about 7.20 am. The congested lanes and traffic led to the delay”.

Standing Committee chairman and Shiv Sena corporator Rahul Shewale has directed the civic administration to plan for better co-ordination between the fire and the traffic department. “The fire brigade officials should conduct meetings with the traffic officials and plan for better co-ordination. In case of a fire,the traffic officials can direct the fire brigade to take the least congested route to reach the spot in the shortest time-span,” said Shewale.

The BMC meeting,in which the newly appointed members of the civic body’s standing committee also raised the issue of diminishing water levels and the spurious growth of the water mafia in the city. The corporators were discussing Shiv Sena corporator,Shuba Raul’s proposal suggesting that the BMC should seize the private wells in the city to protect the water levels.

“Water tankers have been exploiting the wells in the city and supplying water at high rates. There are no restriction in this business. The BMC should plan to seize and operate the private wells in the city and the water mafia cannot indiscriminately use a natural resource in this manner”.

BJP’s Dilip Patel also suggested that the water tanker owners should be charged a sewage tax in addition to the water charge. “The power to seize a private well is with the state government and the BMC has no power to act on this issue. BMC officials and state government officials will conduct a survey of the water levels in private wells in the city.”

Shewale also demanded a white paper on the status of rain water harvesting in the city. The first standing committee meeting after the recently concluded elections also saw Congress corporators staging a walkout even as they protested the ‘high-handed approach’ of chairman Shewale. Alleging that Shewale is not allowing the opposition members to express their views,the Congress,led by opposition leader Dnyanraj Nikam,boycotted the proceedings.