Act against corp officials: Fire force chief to chief secy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There had been serious lapses on the part of the Kochi corporation with regards to fire safety at the Brahmapuram waste treatment facility and action should be initiated against those responsible under the Disaster Management Act, DGP and fire and rescue services commandant general B Sandhya said in a letter to chief secretary V P Joy.
The letter sent last month cites multiple instances of fire at Brahmapuram -- in January, February and March 2019, in February 2020, in March 2021 and in January last year -- after which the department had conducted examination to ensure that such incidents of fire are not repeated.
The department had then instructed the corporation regarding the measures that need to be implemented at the Brahampuram yard to deal with incidents of fire.
These includes ensuring a seven-metre-wide pathway adjacent to each cluster of garbage that should be limited to a maximum of 750 square metre area, deploying a minimum of eight security personnel in the plant during daytime and a minimum of five personnel during night, training the employees to operate the fire-fighting equipment, installing CCTV cameras to monitor the area etc.
In addition, the fire force chief had also given a list of things to be ensured by the police department at the yard. All these instructions were given in detail to the mayor and other senior officials of the Kochi corporation but they were not adhered to.
Under these circumstances, the fire force chief requested the chief secretary's urgent intervention in the matter so that necessary steps are taken.