HYDERABAD: It was around 11 pm and Narasimha (name changed) suddenly wakes up from sleep and switches on the light. ‘’I saw something moving near the corner,’’ he yells, sending chills down the spine of seven other men sleeping at the relocated Assembly fire station, who have been dodging poisonous bites for the last two days.
As they scan the premises to check whether there is an unwanted visitor, something that shocks them, their hearts almost stop as they spot a deadly black cobra crawling on the floor. They try to scare away the snake and finally succeed in getting rid of it. It’s time to go back to sleep but no, not in the room. Of the eight men, some get atop the parked fire-tender while the others sleep on an elevated verandah.
The Assembly fire station is manned by two contingents. One contingent is stationed in a temporary building at Bal Bhavan where snakes and other poisonous insects are regular visitors at night. Another contingent of five personnel is crammed in a small room of 10 x 6 feet near the Jubilee Hall. Such is the condition of the Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Service (TSDRFS) department’s fire station near the state legislature.
“We are literally sleeping in the verandah where poisonous snakes slither in and out constantly, giving us creeps,” said a fire-fighter on condition of anonymity. When Express visited the new location of the fire station, the personnel were sitting on the stairs and having food in the open.
They have a 24-hour duty to respond to distress calls and, usually, take rest at the station itself when there is no call for duty. The need for an exclusive fire station at the Assembly arose after a fire broke out in Jubilee Hall in July 2012 minutes after the then President held a meeting with legislators. Since then there has been no proper station building and the personnel are stuffed in a small room near Jubilee Hall. The tiny room is also the place for keeping all their tools, belongings and spare uniforms. There is no separate toilet for them.
When contacted, director-general of TSDRFS Gopi Krishna said, “A personal ground check has to be done to assess the condition of fire stations in the city” and assured that corrective action would be taken to solve the issue.
At Sanathnagar fire station, the fire-fighters relieve themselves on the same premises where they sleep, park the fire-tenders and also eat. The Kukatpally fire station is no exception as the costliest fire-fighting equipment of the department, Hazmat Vehicle, along with others, is kept in the open.According to sources, a sum of `2 crore was allocated during 2016-2017 financial year for construction of a building but due to delay in land allocation of land, the fund remained unutilised. Similar conditions prevail at several other fire stations in the city.