May 12, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 11: A Rs350 million project to procure equipment for the Fire Brigade Department is stated to be in the doldrums due to procrastination of the government departments, sources told Dawn on Sunday.

The sources held the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the planning commission responsible for delay in approving the project.

The PC-I of the project has to be approved by the planning commission, as the existing fire fighting machinery of the authority has become outdated.

The sources said a meeting in the planning commission was to be held on May 5 to decide the fate of the project but it was postponed. The next date for the meeting is yet to be announced.

They said the CDA had sent a summary to the defunct chief executive secretariat and interior ministry for provision of a sophisticated fire fighting equipment, vehicles and required staff. The summary was sent in response to the directives of President General Pervez Musharraf on revamping the fire brigade department. The president had issued the directives after the gutting of Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat on January 16, 2002.

The sources said the authority had transferred some of its vehicles and fire fighting equipment to the newly established Diplomats Protection Cell at Diplomatic Enclave and Prime Minister House that seriously affected the working of the fire brigade department.

The total number of the sanctioned posts of firemen has already been reduced from 204 to 192. However, 154 firemen have been appointed against the sanctioned posts. Similarly, there were 27 posts of leading firemen in the authority but their number was slashed by 16 and only seven of them were filled, a CDA official said.

According to the summary, the fire brigade department needs one snorkel truck, one mini-fire truck for VVIP motorcade, one commander car, two fire trucks with foam tank having capacity of 4700 litre and two fire trucks with water tanks having capacity of 4,000 litre. It has been mentioned in the summary that an average of two fire incidents are reported everyday in the capital.