Panipat fire station project for industrial cluster hangs fire

Tribune News Service

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, February 15

Taking note of industrialists’ demand, the state government had announced the construction of an “ultra-modern” fire station in Sector 25 here, especially for the industrial cluster. However, the project has been hanging fire for over two years.

Industrialists in the “Textile City” had demanded the upgrade of fire-fighting services, including a separate advanced fire service station for the industrial sectors here. Panipat is an industrial hub and over 20,000 big and small industries are scattered in the city and its surrounding areas, in which over three lakh labourers are working. The main industrial clusters are Sector 29 Part-1 & Part-2 and Sector 25 Part-1 & Part-2. Besides, scores of factories are on the Sewah road, Pasina road, Samalkha road and Barsat road. As many as 500 fire incidents were reported in 2023, of which several were big industrial fire incidents.

Design in final stage

An agency had been hired for making a detailed project report. The design of the fire station is almost at the final stage. Most probably, the tender for construction of the fire station would be invited by the end of February. — Ajay Chhokkar, Junior Engineer, MC

Amit Kumar of the Fire Department said at present, the fire brigade was equipped with a total 30 fire tenders, including eight foam tenders and three fire-fighting bikes for narrow places. There are a total of 125 employees — 20 regular staffers and 105 employees of Haryana Kaushal Rojgar Nigam (HKRN) and Palika employees. Sources said the department had sent a demand of around 20 more fire tenders to the department and a hydraulic platform to the headquarters.

The department got the approval for the ultra-modern fire station project in 2022. Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) has already allotted two acres land to the fire department in Sector 25, the sources said. They said the estimated cost of the fire station was around Rs 40 crore, which had been approved by the government. The file for the project had been sent to the Municipal Corporation (MC) by the Fire Department.

Shree Bhagwan Aggarwal, President, Sector-29 Industrial Association, said several big fire incidents in the industries had occurred in the last two-three years. “A modern fire station was the prime need for the industries here and it was announced in 2017 during the first regime of the BJP-led government. The approval for the project was given in 2022 and the land has also been allotted to the Fire Department in Sector 25 but no work has been done on the ground,” he said.

Ajay Chhokkar, Junior Engineer, MC, said an agency had been hired for making a detailed project report (DPR). The design of the fire station is almost at the final stage, he said. Most probably, the tender for construction of the fire station would be invited by the end of February, JE Chhokkar said.

Long-standing demand of industrialists

Industrialists in the “Textile City” had demanded the upgrade of fire-fighting services, including a separate advanced fire service station for the industrial sectors. Panipat is an industrial hub and over 20,000 big and small industries are scattered in the city and its surrounding areas, in which over three lakh labourers are working.

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