Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has said that the governments in the past had failed to give deserving importance to the Fire and Rescue Department. He was speaking after inaugurating the state convention of the Kerala Fire and Rescue Service Association at Thrikakkara on Friday. He said the present government would do its best to modernise the department and a slew of welfare programmes would be introduced for the officials in the department.
“One of the priorities of the government is modernising the Fire and Rescue Department.
The department received only `20 crore in the state budget allocation. We took this issue to Finance Minister, who later allotted an additional `15 crore. Similarly, we also received `10 crore from the natural disaster fund this time,” he said adding that some more fund is needed for the modernisation drive.
Chennithala said the government has plan to provide canteen facilities and insurance coverage to the Fire and Rescue Services personnel. Similarly, the 1,200 vacancies in the department would be filled soon.
He also said that the officials, who conducted rescue operation when an LPG tanker caught fire at Kalliasseri in Kannur,would be honoured.