State decides not to revive citys 10,000 fire hydrants….Sayli Udas Mankikar
The citys ubiquitous red fire hydrants, that were a firemans best friend, will soon be history. Just 2,267 of the 10,157 hydrants are functional.
Minister of state for urban development Bhaskar Jadhav said, We do not plan to revive them. These hydrants require maintenance and 24×7 water supply, which is not available.
He said there was a fire hydrant at every 150 metres to give the fire brigade easy access to water in case of a fire. But, the water shortage started making it difficult for the fire brigade to function, Jadhav said.
The decision not to revive them could, however, be a problem. The city has innumerable narrow lanes that fire engines cannot pass through.
We are looking for alternative systems. Currently the fire brigades are provided with 24-hour water supply at 14 pumping stations across the city. The fire brigade fills tankers at these stations and takes them to the spot of the fire, Jadhav said.
Jadhav also points out that lack of maintenance has led to the fire hydrants becoming defunct.
Rs 18K budgeted for upkeep of defunct hydrants….Sayli Udas Mankikar
Prakash Binsale, a Nationalist Congress Party MLC, who raised a question on the future of the citys fire hydrants in the legislative council last week, pointed out that money continued to be spent on the hydrants, yet they were defunct. Funds are being budgeted for maintenance of these fire hydrants, yet there is talk of their being closed down, Binsale said.
Minister of state for urban development Bhaskar Jadhav agreed that money had been shown as spent on maintenance by the civic body. We have been spending at least Rs 18,000 on each fire hydrant, yet the figures of functional hydrants are few. We will check why this is so, Jadhav said.
Jadhav added that the citys development was also to blame for the death of some fire hydrants. In some places almost three-fourths of the hydrant is buried under the road. Over the years, callous road contractors have kept adding layers to roads without bothering about keeping the hydrants intact, Jadhav said.