KARACHI, Dec 14: The rangers have occupied the fire station in Malir for the past nine years, refusing to vacate the vital facility despite the fact that they have been offered alternative arrangements, officials of the Malir Town told Dawn.
“Malir had a properly running fire-station till 1994 when the rangers moved in and occupied the station’s premises. Consequently, the fire-tenders and staff were shifted to the neighbouring Shah Faisal fire station,” said Malir Town Nazim Azam Ali.
The Rangers used the pretext of serious law and order situation in 1994-95 for occupying the premises, town officials said.
Since then Malir has been without a fire station and depends on neighbouring fire stations in the event of the outbreak of a fire.
The building was specifically built to house a fire station constructed by the public works department as the densely-populated Malir lacked a proper fire station.
Referring to the recent disturbances in Malir, Malir Town Naib Nazim Mohammad Wasim said that around seven vehicles had been gutted in separate incidents of arson because fire-tenders could not reach there in time to extinguish the fire.
Recently a fire broke out in some dense bushes and spread quickly, endangering an apartment complex, because of the late arrival of help.
“Whenever a fire breaks out, we seek help from the neighbouring fire stations of Shah Faisal Town and Landhi Town. Naturally help always comes late after the damage has been done,” the Naib Nazim added.
The town officials said that several alternative sites had been proposed to the rangers, but they were determined to continue to occupy this fire station.
Officials have also undertaken correspondence with the authorities concerned offering alternative sites.
In July the Malir Town Nazim sent a letter to the district officer, civil defence and fire brigade, offering alternative accommodation for the Bhitai Rangers in UC-2 of Malir Town provided they vacated the fire station building.
In another letter to the home secretary of Sindh in May, the Malir Town Nazim stated that the densely populated area had numerous goths and shanty towns made of wooden structures.
Referring to a general public complaint, town officials said the city government was sending them bills mentioning fire charges.
Residents of Malir resent these bills saying that “we do not have a fire station and still we pay fire charges”.
“Technically, residents are justified in their contention, but what can we do except to pass the bills to the residents,” town officials said.
A Malir Town resident, complaining about the lack of fire-fighting facilities in the town, said they were at the mercy of Shah Faisal and Landhi Town fire brigades in case of a fire.
Referring to their working relationship with the rangers, town officials said they had built several kiosks for the rangers and they did prove helpful in law and order situations, but they were occupying the fire station at the public’s expense.
At present, the fund-starved fire department has 50 functional fire tenders.
They are inadequate to cater to the needs of the 13-million population city, having only 13 fire stations.According to international rules, there should be one fire station with four fire engines for every 0.1 million people.
Thus there should be at least 110 fire stations and 440 fire tenders.
KARACHI, Dec 14: The rangers have occupied the fire station in Malir for the past nine years, refusing to vacate the vital facility despite the fact that they have been offered alternative arrangements, officials of the Malir Town told Dawn.
