By Our Special Correspondent
The Andhra Pradesh government is expecting prior approval from the Center to purchase special vehicles and equipment and train fire fighters to deal with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear disasters in the state.
The AP Fire Service had sent a proposal worth Rs 220 crore to the Center some time ago to handle emergencies related to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear disasters.
It is reported that the senior officials of the department recently went to Delhi and met NITI Aayog officials for sanction of funds and got a positive response. Once the proposal is approved, the funds will be released to the AP State Disaster Management Authority, which will take up the task of drawing up plans for procurement of special vehicles and equipment and training of fire fighters.
Meanwhile, the fire department has imported two vehicles. A 54 meter high turntable ladder from Japan to meet the emergency requirements of buildings up to 18 floors high has been installed in Vijayawada. Another is the 90-meter-high Bronto Skylight, which spans up to 30 floors. It was imported from Finland and used in Visakhapatnam to undertake rescue operations and fire fighting during fire incidents.
The 54 meter high firefighting equipment installed in Visakhapatnam was shifted to Tirupati. Officials say that in view of the large number of multi-storied buildings in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati, these have been placed at appropriate places.
There are 257 fire tenders in the fire service. Some of the 67 inflatable rescue boats were damaged. Officials plan to procure around 25 IRBs to replace the damaged ones to carry out rescue operations in water bodies more effectively. Firefighters rescued around 15,000 villagers during floods in Godavari recently.
With around 100 four- or five-storey buildings in each district, efforts are being made to tap the country-made 27- to 30-meter-high service vehicles to tackle fires and rescue trapped victims.
Regional Fire Officer Srinivasulu said, "Recently we went to Delhi and examined the proposal submitted to the Center for the purchase of vehicles, equipment and personnel training to deal with chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological disasters. We have received a positive response and funding for these is likely to be sanctioned from Delhi soon.
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