WARANGAL: Following a recent fire incident at Station Ghanpur in Jangaon district, a fire tender took an hour to reach the spot. Though there were no casualties, the property damage could have been minimised if the fire tender had reached earlier. Many parts of the erstwhile Warangal district, especially rural and semi-urban areas, are facing the same problem, which poses a greater risk to lives and property in these areas. According to data from the Telangana State Disaster and Fire department, there should be one station per 50,000 people, which means there should be 15 stations in the erstwhile Warangal district. However, only 10 stations are located in the erstwhile district.
A senior official from the Fire Department said they have put forward a proposal for setting up five new fire stations — at Dornakal Assembly constituency in Mahabubabad district, Station Ghanpur Assembly constituency, Chityal mandal in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district, Kesamudram mandal in Mahabubabad district and Eturnagaram in Mulugu district. The officials said many more proposals have been sent to set up fire stations but their approvals are awaited.
Currently, only a lone station caters to both Jayashankar-Bhupalpally and Mulugu districts. Express asked Fire department officials if fire tenders reach the accident site on time if any fire mishap takes place in rural areas of the district. The officials said it is very tough to reach the site on time, as sometimes they needed to travel as much as 20 to 30 km. “But we try our best to reach the accident site on time,” an officials said.
District Fire Officer (DFO) M Bhagwan Reddy said two fire stations were sanctioned and currently functioning in Wardhannapet and Palakurthy Assembly constituencies. “We have identified the locations to set up five more fire stations in the erstwhile Warangal district and submitted a proposal for the same to Telangana State Disaster and Fire Department authorities,” Reddy said.
M Sudhakar from Station Ghanpur town runs a shop that rents out tents. Four days ago, due to a short circuit, his shop caught fire. It was extinguished with the help of locals, but not before the fire caused substantial property damage. “There is no fire station in the constituency. If we inform the Fire department, they need to get here from Palakurthy or Jangaon town. Both the stations are 25 km away and it would take an hour to reach any spot around here. We request the authorities to set up a fire station in our Assembly constituency,” Sudhakar said.