KASUR, Nov 16: The local civil defence office is not alive to one of its basic objectives of providing fire-fighting training to workers of government and private sector departments to meet any emergency.

The office has not even installed the first aid boxes at factories, tanneries, industrial units, petrol pumps, oil agencies, private hospitals, schools and colleges in Kasur, Chunian and Pattoki.

The civil defence staff is bound to conduct lectures and training programmes to equip workers with the fire-fighting skill.

Sources in the department said the provincial authorities also issued annual schedule to the civil defence office for this purpose. They said that workshops and lectures were supposed to cover training on fire-fighting, first aid, flood control, bomb disposal, disaster management, warden service for war and emergency and rescue service.

Chief warden Hafiz Muhammad Aslam told Dawn that local civil defence employees had not conducted any lecture or workshop for the last several years in the district.

However, he alleged that officials kept registering fake entries about the training programmes.

He further alleged that civil defence officer Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar was neither conducting lectures nor informing high ups about the honorarium of volunteers pending for the last several years.

The office had the strength of around 350 volunteers and wardens some six years ago which had now reduced to only 50 for the obvious reason, he claimed.

A survey revealed that some factories, tanneries, industrial units, petrol pumps, hospitals, schools and colleges were not equipped with fire-fighting equipment and the first aid boxes at all.

As per law, every big industrial unit and tannery unit must possess a siren system, first aid boxes, fire tender vehicles and a piped system of extinguishing blaze.

Sources alleged that civil defence officials took ‘monthlies’ from those who did not want to install fire-fighting gadgets at their business places.

They said that corrupt officials received Rs800 from an oil agency holder, Rs2,200 from a petrol pump owner, Rs2,000 from owners of schools and plazas, Rs6,000 from a tannery owner and Rs7,000 from a factory owner after every three month. Group warden Haji Yousaf had lodged a complaint with the Kasur DCO, levelling allegation of grass irregularities at the Kasur office. However, the DCO did not take any action against the corrupt officials.