Acute shortage of manpower hits F&E Deptt

No JDs; deputies in Kashmir, Jammu lack powers

Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Mar 8: The lack of manpower in the Fire and Emergency Department is taking a toll on the effective functioning of the department across J&K.
The department is not only lacking in the field workers on the lower level, but is also lacking the manpower on upper levels as well.
The shortage can be understood by the fact that there are no Joint Directors (JDs) in the Fire Department all across J&K whatsoever, while as the Deputies are without powers.
If the sources are to be believed, the powers of a Joint Director, as of now, are lying wholly and solely with the Director-General of the Fire and Emergency Department due to which the working of the department has taken a hit.
Sources told Excelsior that there are two Deputy Directors who are working in the department. One is in Jammu and another one is in Kashmir.
The one in Srinagar is taking care of districts like Kulgam, Anantnag, Budgam, and Pulwama including Central Store. “The rest of the districts are not taken care of. In the left out districts, one district has got a Divisional Fire Officer and nothing else,” a source said.
What is ironical here is that one officer down the level of the Deputy Director is taking care of two districts at one time. Such a state of affairs, as per the sources, is not seen anywhere.
District like Kupwara is taken care of by a single officer, while as the matters of the department in Ganderbal, Bandipora districts is also taken care of by one lone officer.
What is interesting here, is the fact that, while there are no Joint Directors in the department, the powers of a Joint Director were lying with the concerned deputies in the two divisions.
However, the powers were taken away by the Director General, Fire and Emergency Services, leaving the Deputies bereft of such powers.
The move, in-turn took a toll on the effective system of issuing No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to various establishments, including other matters.
“People are facing the heat of the lack of manpower in the Department of Fire Emergency. They are made to travel to Jammu to process such cases (NOCs),” sources said.
In the absence of Joint Directors, such matters were taken care of by the concerned deputies in Jammu and Srinagar.
“The powers of a joint director are as of now lying with the Director General whose nature of the job is non-technical, while as the deputies are technical and such matters should have been given to them to process,” a source informed.
What is more unsettling here is that while there are 9 districts in Kashmir, there are only three Command Officers on the job in the entire Kashmir division.
Further with regard to Divisional Fire Officers, there are only three available as of now. One is stationed at the Headquarters, one is in Budgam and the third one at Kulgam, while as rest are lying vacant.
Same is the case in Jammu. There are three district officers at Udhampur, Ramban and Doda and nobody is there to take care of matters in Jammu.
As per regulations, there have to be 26 people at a Station which is having one fire tender. In those terms, there must be around 1000 men working in Srinagar—while the actual numbers are not more than 400 people.
What ironical here, the insiders in the department told this reporter that the districts don’t even maintain the vacancy chart in the respective district, implying that the department does not have an exact idea of the manpower shortage.
Director General, Fire and Emergency Services V K Singh told Excelsior that there is sure shortage of the manpower in the Department. “Till now there was a recruitment of 800 that was on, beyond that we can also recruit people,” he said.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here