Pay for fire tender at private functions

Sanjay Bumbroo
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, October 19

In a bid to increase its financial resources, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation has decided not to offer free fire brigade services for private functions in the district.

 The MC has now decided to charge Rs 5,000 from the organisers of private functions for hiring a fire tender for six hours. The fee for booking the fire tender will have to be paid in advance and the charges will double to Rs 10,000 if the fire tender is retained for one more hour.

Market associations seek the services of fire tenders during the festival season, especially Diwali, to deal with any fire incident that may take place. Now, the associations will have to pay the charges for hiring the services. Confirming the development, MC administrator Rajesh Jogpal said a decision to this effect was taken recently. He said market associations, NGOs and other people seeking the services would have to pay a fee of Rs 5,000 for each fire tender. However, he made it clear that in case of a fire, the services of fire tenders would be provided free of cost.

 The administrator said they had also fixed the per sq ft rates for setting up stalls during Diwali. He said shopkeepers could set up stalls in front of their shops for three days during the festival. He said interested traders would have to seek permission for the requisite space and pay the fee in advance.

Jogpal said a fee of Rs 250 would be charged from shopkeepers for 20 sq ft space per day. For 50 sq ft space, the fee would be Rs 450. He said the per day fee for 100 sq ft, 225 sq ft, 500 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft space would be  Rs 900, Rs 1,400, Rs 2,300 and Rs 7,000, respectively. He said the stalls would be allowed for three days only. He said the permission for setting up stalls would have to be taken from the Sector 4 office of the MC. The fee would also have to be deposited there.