The government say that there must not be strikes by essential service providers based on the importance of that sector to the public. Fire force is an essential service in every way. They are called not only when a fire breaks out. But they are called upon when a child’s ring gets stuck in his finger, or also to take out animals that has fell into a well. The fire force have done their duty with commitment and thus no complaints have ever been raised against them. All this shows that fire force is an essential service. They are at your service when called upon for help.

Now, those who want the service of fire force must reach the fire force vehicle with a can of petrol. Then only they can reach the spot where their service is needed. That is because the Finance Department has blocked the funds for their petrol allowance. Even if the land is consumed by fire, it is not going to affect the lords sitting at the Finance Department.

Yesterday, we reported that the petrol pumps have stopped giving fuel to fire force as their dues have crossed Rs.1 crore. It means that fire force vehicles will not be able to reach anywhere in case of an emergency. However much financial constraint is there, not releasing funds for essential services like the fire force is not justifiable. The initiative shown to give salaries must be shown in this case too.

The Rs.1 crore due is the cumulative dues from the past six months. Even after many notifications from the fire force, the Finance Department has not taken a favorable decision. If funds are not released immediately, then the fire force service will stop within a week. Because of the current fuel shortage, the fire force is attending only emergency cases. The force used the fuel kept for emergency situations in many places these last few days. The fuel is about to get empty at many places.

There are 129 fire stations in the state. The vehicles are filled with fuel from private petrol stations. Every month the Finance Department was paying for the fuel bills promptly. Since January, the payment became once in two months. That too was not paid fully. With that, the dues increased to Rs.1 crore.

Rs.1 crore is a negligible amount for a government. By blocking this, the government is skipping from its responsibility to the citizens. It is the ministers who are able to gauge the mental state of the people. Therefore, decisions such as this must not be limited to the level of officers only. The finance minister must realize that it is not the responsibility of the private petrol pumps to give fuel to fire force for free.