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Nagpur: In a bid to boost efficiency of the Fire Department, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to install 116 Hydrants worth Rs 1 Crore to improve the fire services.
It is pertinent to mention that the Fire Department had submitted a proposal in this regard back in 2017. The Standing Committee and General Body had approved it and the department had sanctioned Rs 1 Crore. However, the work of installing the Hydrants did not take off in these five years. Now the Public Health Engineering Department will float the tenders. The proposal was approved by the Standing Committee on Tuesday.
In 1947, there were about 1,000 Hydrants in the city. If there was a fire in any area, the Firemen would draw water from these Hydrants and extinguish it soon. These Hydrants had a 24-hours water supply.
However, in the last few years road widening was undertaken on a large scale in the city. The Hydrants were removed in this process. While laying new water pipelines the Hydrants were ignored. The administration was completely apathetic towards them.
Notably, the city has only nine Hydrants at present: near, St Joseph School, Kasturchand Park, Main Railway Station, Vidhan Bhavan, NMC’s Sadar Hospital, Ravi Bhavan, Tilak Nagar, Indira Gandhi Hospital and Kacchipura Square.
