With fire-fighting system missing, Tarn Taran district sits on powder keg - Hindustan Times
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With fire-fighting system missing, Tarn Taran district sits on powder keg

Hindustan Times | By, Tarn Taran
May 07, 2016 02:55 PM IST

It was declared a district around 10 years ago, but residents here are still deprived of basic amenities. Even the authorities are not concerned about residents’ safety as there is no fire brigade across the district.

It was declared a district around 10 years ago, but residents here are still deprived of basic amenities. Even the authorities are not concerned about residents’ safety as there is no fire brigade across the district.

Fire-fighters from Amritsar trying to douse the flames at Patti where a showroom had caught fire earlier this week.(HT File)
Fire-fighters from Amritsar trying to douse the flames at Patti where a showroom had caught fire earlier this week.(HT File)

Demand of establishing proper fire fighting system has been raised by residents and social organisations over the years, but to no avail. The municipal corporation of the town has a water tanker to rely on in case of an emergency. Markets in the town are virtually sitting on powder keg and are congested. The situation in Patti town, the second most populated town in the district, is no different.

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“Area politicians, including those in the government, are spending lakhs on development projects, but they have never paid attention towards setting up fire stations in the district,” said Gurpreet Singh, a resident.

Patti is hometown of food and civil supplies minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon, son-in-law of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. Other two MLAs from the district — Virsa Singh Valtoha (Khemkaran) and Harmeet Singh Sandhu — are chief parliamentary secretaries in the state government. Despite it, this concern has never been taken seriously.

The need to set up fire stations came to fore after a major fire broke out in a three-storey hosiery and cosmetics showroom at Patti town on Tuesday. It took 17 fire tenders 15 hours to bring the fire under control. The owner of the showroom had to bear loss as there was no fire-fighting system in the district. Water tanks of Tarn Taran and Patti municipal council failed to control the fire. Fire tenders from Amritsar reached the spot late.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Surjit Singh is a correspondent. He covers politics and agriculture, besides religious affairs and Indo-Pak border in Amritsar and Tarn Taran.

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