One of my best friends always says “it’s not enough to just pinpoint the deficiencies in our ‘system’, but more important is what we do to change ‘the system’.”
Well, I can realize it the most, as I witnessed the horror show in Thane on the morning of 18 October. Six brave fire –fighters lost their lives in the middle of the Diwali-ironically festival of light.
We always criticize our Government but this time I have no words for it. After the whole tragedy our city- apart from posters of ‘the Social Workers’ – did not really take notice of the tragedy. And we continued as if nothing has happened, I really don’t know what will be the event which will transform our society.
And it was sickening to read in the newspapers that the firefighters were not properly trained. What we give a miss here is that those firefighters are slightly better trained than normal citizens and despite of this they show remarkable courage to enter into area to exhaust the fire.
As usual there is only one common problem here ‘The Government’ and this time it’s Municipal Corporation of Thane. When everyone is shamelessly talking about the use of the lift by the firefighters, who will question TMC? When we have a 10 storey skylift with TMC run fire station, how do we sanction the 14 storey buildings?
For a city of 20 lakh, we have only 5 fire stations. Sixth one inaugurated last year still waiting for equipments and personnel. Whereas standard is one station per lakh of population. There are mere 250 personnel to cover area of over 150 sq km. Thane who boasts one of the biggest Industrial areas in Wagle Estate…..The fire station here could collapse any time.
Let’s look at the questions raised after these incidents and their possibly justifiable answers. Q: Why fire-fighters used the building lift? Ans: Skylift could reach as high as 10 storeys. So logically, quickest way had to be the lift. Q: Despite the training, how did they stifle in the lift? Ans: firefighters were last trained 20 years ago on how to open a lift. Q: Why they did not communicate to any of their counterparts? Ans: they were not supplied the basic equipments like hammer, torch and walkie-talkie. And the best of all- Q: How did no one realize earlier they were missing? Ans: There was no Supervising Officer available on night shift. To sum up all- One of the most important departments is left to God’s mercy. The moaning will always be common so really don’t feel like repeating it. But the question is when are we all going to learn lessons and get wiser? If simple routine inspections of all buildings are carried on….the flaws in the fire safety would be diagnosed very early. But the important point here is that of “the root cause”, the fire in the first place was caught because of a cracker- a rocket. I think the time has come to officially educate everyone on how and how much to burst crackers. Is someone going to book the person responsible for causing fire? How many of us are aware of necessary actions be taken when a fire breaks out. It’s very often that when a fire or any such accidents take place, stampede and panic attacks are very common.
We are never shy of questioning the Government Servants for their poor attitude and even poorer work ethics. But we always neglect the fact that they have to work with the primitive infrastructure and that too inadequate. The issues which bother us as common citizens hurt them with equal venom.
Our Army men, Policemen and Firefighters are among the bravest in the world. Even with insufficient resources they give us the best results. To the memories of six brave men who made our eyes wet but their courage will always keep our head high.
-N.D.K. Nikhil
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