March 18, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 17: The Capital Development Athority has utilized Rs3 million budget of its fire brigade department for some other purposes.

The fire budget, allocated for the fiscal 2002-2003, has been utilized for other purposes, which has caused severe financial loss to the department, a source told Dawn.

He said the department was facing acute shortage of staff, equipment and vehicles.

He said the CDA’s financial wing was responsible for the mess in the department. “The finance wing had assured the department that the funds would be released after March 15, but they had been adjusted against the pending liabilities of the department,” he added.

According to a data prepared by the CDA, an average of two fire incidents are reported everyday in Islamabad.

The data showed that over 700 incidents of fire were reported in the city during 2002 and some 650 in 2001.

A source told Dawn that fire brigade department had sent a summary to the defunct chief executive secretariat and interior ministry for the provision of sophisticated fire fighting equipment, vehicles and required staff.

The summary was sent after President Gen Pervez Musharraf had directed the authority to revamp the fire brigade department in Islamabad.

The source said the fire department was working with 25 per cent of the total sanctioned staff.

The total sanctioned posts of firemen are stated to be 204, but they had been reduced by 192. However, 154 firemen have been appointed against the sanctioned posts.

Similarly, there were 27 posts of leading firemen in the authority but the number had been slashed by 16 out of which only seven were filled, the source said.

Total sanctioned posts of drivers, before right-sizing in the department, were 31, which were cut down by 27 out of which 23 drivers were appointed.

The source said all six posts of fire control supervisors were vacant. There is one post of fire officer, which is also vacant, he added.

The department has only 10 vehicles, that were obtained from Japan in 1993. The government was informed that the fire brigade department required three more hydraulic ladder trucks. At present, the department has only one such vehicle with the capacity of 150 feet high ladder.

The establishment of four fire brigade sub-stations at different areas of Islamabad had also been demanded.

The summery said the fire brigade department needed one snorkel truck, one mini fire truck for VVIP motorcade, one commander car, two fire trucks with foam tank having capacity of 4,700 litres and two fire trucks with water tanks having capacity of 4,000 litres.