Jammu and Kashmir’s Rural Development Minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar, on Wednesday said that the survey will be carried out to find the new areas where the fire fighting stations need to be opened.

Sagar was replying to the questions raised by the MLAs in the assembly about the requirement of upgrading the fire fighting services in the state.

NC MLA, Mubarak Gul, said that the upgrade of the fire fighting services was required particularly in the Srinagar district which has witnessed many of the fire incidents during the militancy.

However MLAs consistently pressed the government to open fire stations in their areas. MLA, Bishanh, Ashwani Sharma, also staged a walkout in the legislative assembly accusing the government of neglecting his area by not opening the fire station there. He said that even though the government had approved the opening of the fire station at Bishnah in 2005 no work was started over it and the project has been only been swept under the carpet. The Bishanh MLA drew the attention of the government towards the increased fire incidents in his area. “The frequency of fire incidents has increased considerably and there have been heavy damages to shops and other businesses in view of the fire incidents. Government was showing the lack of seriousness to devise a policy for tackling the fire incidents,” he said.

Sagar also added that the opening of each fire station requires Rs 1.3 crore and an additional staff of 26 personnel at each fire station. He, however, said that despite the demands, the fire stations couldn’t be opened at all the places due to the paucity of funds.

Sagar said that besides the distance from a particular fire station, population of the particular area and its topography will be the other factors that will be taken into consideration to open new fire stations.