Firefighting equipment worth Rs 1.77 crore intended to be used in hostels for students belonging to reserved category is lying unused since it was procured in 2012. The social welfare and justice department, which is responsible for the hostels and had procured the equipment, has neither installed it nor trained hostel staff on how to use the equipment.
Pointing this out, advocate Manoj Tekade of Prahar Vidyarthi Sanghatana said, “Most of the equipment has been gathering dust and though some equipment can be used, the fire extinguishers will either have to be replaced or refilled as they have surpassed their validity of 11 months.”
Seven of the 271 such hostels in the state are in Mumbai and firefighting equipment has not been installed in any of them. In fact, there was a mishap in one of the hostels at Chembur where a fire gutted a storeroom.
“Eight months ago, there was a fire in our hostel’s storeroom due to a short circuit. Many things including hostel admission documents and student records stored there were burnt. We could do nothing, but call the fire brigade as there was no primary firefighting equipment. Though the fire was not too big all the documents and records were gutted,” said Rahul Jadhav, an inmate of the hostel.
The social welfare and justice department had sanctioned the project in 2011 following a government resolution (GR). Fire extinguishers were then procured in March 2012, but have been lying unused in the hostel premises.
A senior officials from the department said, “ The equipment is already in place and the installations will be made at the earliest now, however, it got delayed due to some technical problem, which is now resolved.” Anil Sonawane, deputy commissioner of the department could not be reached for comment.