RAWALPINDI: As electioneering has started and snowfall is expected in Murree hills, the Civil Defence Department is facing shortage of staff to provide a secure environment for election activities and to tourists.

The department’s bomb disposal squad is responsible for defusing bombs and combing venues of any public gathering. The police have their own squad, but the civil defence has to cover civilian areas, airports, railway stations and other public places.

The department’s volunteers are assigned duties in prominent bazaars and markets to keep a vigil on suspected people during elections and other events.

District Civil Defence Officer Talib Hussain told Dawn that there was a shortage of staff in the garrison city and Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema had requested the provincial government to increase the staff.

He said that being the headquarters of Rawalpindi Division and for having an international airport, Railway stations and military and civil installations, there was a need to improve the Civil Defence Department in Rawalpindi, specially its bomb disposal squad.

After receiving a letter from the deputy commissioner, the chief secretary directed that recruitment of Civil Defence volunteers be made in the light of procedure mentioned in Civil Defence Services Rules 1966 and selection criteria on analogy of the police.

The chief secretary also directed that proper training by the Police Department and Pakistan Army should be arranged for the volunteers.

“In compliance with the directions of the chief secretary, the district has sent a batch of 25 Civil Defence volunteers in first batch for six-week-long training in weapon training, drill, quick response force, disaster management and unarmed combat training,” Mr Hussain said.

However, he said, there were only 80 vacancies of paid volunteers in Rawalpindi, which were insufficient to meet the needs of the district.

He said additional vacancies of 60 paid volunteers should be sanctioned for smooth working of the department.

Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner of Murree also requested the Punjab government to increase the staff of Civil Defence in Murree.

In a letter to the government, DC Murree Agha Zaheer Abbas said Civil Defence staff played a pivotal role in snowfall season.

“They are deployed at facilitation centres, health camps, sensitive junctions, control room, for clearance of snow through salt sprinkling and facilitating tourists in case of emergency. At present, there are only 12 seats of Civil Defence which is negligible with regards to the tasks in hand,” the letter said.

During the meeting of the High Powered Committee, it was decided to increase the number of seats of Civil Defence staff in Murree, but the same could not be materialised owing to budgetary constraints.

It stated that the Civil Defense staffers from Rawalpindi come to Murree for one week on rotation but they cannot be employed effectively due to residence and transportation shortage. They have no vehicle at their disposal to perform the tasks assigned.

“In this regard, a case has been taken up with DG Civil Defence to increase the number of posts to 75 and for provision of vehicles to the staff in Murree. It is requested that additional budget may be given to create seats as mentioned above for hiring of staff and three cabin vehicles be provided to make them effective part of the contingency plan,” the letter added.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023