The Indian Express 15.04.2013
MC honours city’s firemen
A programme was organised to mark the Fire Services Day by the
Chandigarh Municipal Corporation at Fire Station, Sector 17. Fire
Brigade personnel held a parade that was inspected by Mayor Subhash
Chawla, followed by a flag hoisting ceremony.
Fire Services Day has been observed throughout the country since
1944, the year when more than 500 persons including 66 fire brigade
personnel lost their lives in a major fire in Mumbai.
Addressing the gathering, the Mayor applauded the bravery of fire
personnel during crisis. He said that to inculcate a sense of fire
safety in the minds of all concerned and also to minimize the increased
losses due to fire outbreaks in high-rise buildings in urban areas and
in industries, a special programme would be initiated during the fire
prevention week. A survey of fire protection measures in these buildings
will be undertaken and expertise will be rendered on the measures
required to be taken for ensuring adequate fire safety of the people.
A special campaign on fire safety will be organised in the city
schools and to give more emphasis on fire safety, mass awareness
activities by conducting fire safety drills in the schools will be held.
Features like evacuation drills, implementation of fire safety order
‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ in case of natural and man-made disaster and how to
use fire extinguisher etc will be incorporated in fire safety drills.
Earlier, the Mayor, the Commissioner and others laid a wreath and
paid homage to fire brigade personnel. A two-minute silence was also
observed in memory of all those firemen in the country who lost their
lives while on duty. A procession of fire fighting vehicles, including
hydraulic turn table ladders, was held.
Eight firemen were honoured on the occasion for their
performances during last year. These included Balinder, Dharambir Singh,
Satyabir, Kuldeep Singh, Gurlal Singh, Abdul Gani, Sukhwinder Singh and
Dharmender Singh.
Not many councillors attended the event. Of 35 councillors, 8 were
present. These included four nominated councillors, two from the BJP and
one Congress councillor.
