Short of firemen, civic body to hand over task of conducting checks on buildings for firefighting systems to pvt agencies

Already stretched because it has fewer fire stations than the fast-growing city requires, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has now decided to outsource the mandatory checks to be conducted for firefighting equipment on buildings that are over 15 metres tall.


In case of fire... Buildings that are more than 15m tall must have the
specified equipment to fight blazes. Representation pic

Private agencies which are duly registered and have the requisite fire licences will be given the responsibility of inspecting buildings in the city to see if fire systems have been installed or not, and the relevant report will be compiled in six months.

The city has almost around 6.5 lakh properties, of which more than 10,000 buildings are more than 15 metres tall.

The agencies that can perform the checks will be short-listed and given specific areas to complete the inspections in a given timeframe.

Is it outsourcing?
Deputy Commissioner (Special Operations) Dr Praveen Ashtikar disagreed that the work was being outsourced. He said only registered and licensing agencies were being given the work.

"We have received 24 applications till now and their scrutiny is going on. Once the list is compiled, we will allot city areas zone-wise or according to ward office jurisdictions to these agencies," Dr. Ashtikar said. "Each agency will pay Rs 15,000 to the PMC for getting the contract and in turn will be providing their services to the citizens."

Easing the burden
Chief Fire Officer Prashant Ranpise said, "The agencies are being appointed as per the Maharastra Fire Act 2006. Pune's area is spread over 243 sq km and there are only 11 fire officers with us to cope with all
adversities.

Besides the fire calls, the officers have to issue no-objection certificates to different establishments like hotels, cyber cafes and the like. So the new scheme will help the fire brigade by lessening the burden on our officers."