Let’s put defunct fire station at Aarey to use

One fire station in the centre of Aarey, which has been non-operational for several years, needs to be re-started

In a bid to make timely assistance accessible in case of an emergency, a non-governmental organisation has written to the chief executive officer and chief fire officer of the Mumbai Fire Brigade to start a defunct fire station at Aarey.

Their appeal stems from the fact that forest fire incidents have increased, and some claim that there is a deliberate attempt to reduce forest cover to facilitate encroachment.

Their letter has been buttressed by statistics claiming that from February to April last year, there were more than 50 forest fire incidents.

One fire station in the centre of Aarey, which has been non-operational for several years, needs to be re-started.

The fire department can give this a serious thought and address whatever problems, such as shortage of manpower, equipment or others. It is fortunate that there is a structure existing at such a convenient spot. Now is the time to use this wisely and well.

Throughout Mumbai, we witness certain areas that need fire stations, so that fire engines are not mired in traffic on longer routes and can access locations quicker.

Here, one already has the infrastructure, so half the work is already done.

In several cases in the city, planners admit that a fire station is needed at such and such a place. Yet comes questions like acquiring land for the station, then building the physical structure itself and finally, one needs to get it working. There are at least three basic processes.

In the Aarey case, one already has two parts of that process completed so it might make sound sense to give this serious thought, and then try and push the project through to get the station up and running.

It seems like a criminal waste of space and infra to let this fall into disrepair and disuse. This looks like a concept worth exploring and there is a need to bring it to fruition.

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