Dear Editor, It is a matter of pleasure for all that Jammu and Kashmir Fire & Emergency Services Department is observing ‘Fire Services Week’ from April 14 to April 20, 2022 with the theme ‘Learn Fire Safety, Increase Productivity’. In this context I have got some reservations. India is a land of slogans which are not more than the percepts written on the walls. It is universal reality that the Fire and Floods do not discriminate between the metros and the villages; they take everything in their spate which comes in their way. Leaving capital cities, district head quarters and the constituencies with influential and powerful representations in the UT, 95 percent of the rural population is deprived of the fire fighting facilities even after more than seven decades of independence. As a result of accidental fires the population living in the rural areas and hilly terrains has to bear heavy losses in terms of human lives, live stock and the property which they possess. The hey roofed hamlets with their inmates are burnt alive, the standing crops are destroyed without the fire fighting services in their area. It is strange that the entire 170 Km stretch from Udhampur to Basohli and 200 Km from Lakhanpur to Chattar Gala do not have even one fire-fighting center enroute. In the event of sudden breakout of the fires many Nomads lose their home and hearth along with their cattle which are charred in the fire. It has become a practice to include one fire brigade vehicle and Ambulance (with the facility of Blood transfusion) along with motorcade of ministers and VIPs. It seems as if the lives of the VIPs are more precious than a common man who falls prey to these accidental fires every year. The life amenities are human right of every citizen and depriving them in any case tantamount to the infringement of their fundamental rights and of Directive principles of state policy. Shiv Kumar Padha, Basohli.
